Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FLATT, Ruth Maclay
Ancestry: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203459025/ruth-m.-flatt
FLATT, Ruth Maclay. (Dubuque, IA, Nov. 8, 1916--Dubuque, IA, March 31, 2013) The daughter of Albert and Dorothy (Wendt) Anderson, Ruth studied piano at the DUBUQUE ACADEMY OF MUSIC and then graduated from DUBUQUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL in 1934 and from the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE in 1938 with a B.A. in Education. Her teaching career began with a year at the high school in Parkersburg, Iowa, and continued with a year in Dubuque at WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1940, she married John H. Maclay, Jr. and accompanied him to New York, where he clerked for Judge Augustus Hand of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, and then to Washington, D.C., where he first clerked for Justice Stanley Reed of the U.S. Supreme Court and then served as a counsel to the War Production Board.
When he became ill, they returned to Dubuque. After his death in 1944, Ruth resumed teaching. She taught fifth grade for five years at JACKSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, fifth grade for five years at MARSHALL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, and fifth and third grades for eighteen years at BRYANT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
Ruth was an active member of the SAINT MARK LUTHERAN CHURCH until its closing in 1988, serving on the church council, Sunday school teacher, member of Lutheran Church Women, organist, and for 20 years as the director of the adult and children's choirs. Beginning in 1989, she was a member of HOLY TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH, active in the women's organization and participating in Church Women United.
On the closing of the St. Mark congregation, she served for six years on the board of the new SAINT MARK COMMUNITY CENTER and was instrumental in its initiation of an after-school tutoring program for children from the Prescott and Fulton schools. For more than 50 years, she was a member of the P.E.O. chapter HL, and also held memberships in Delta Kappa Gamma and the DUBUQUE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION.
In 1993, she married the Rev. Donald C. Flatt, who had served as a pastor, missionary to Tanzania, and professor at the Lutheran School of Theology At Chicago. As a result, she gained a large and loving extended family. Rev. Flatt died in 2007.
---
Source:
Obituaries: www.dubuqueadvertiser.com/obituaries.cfm?archive=yes
