from the USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — Ruth E. Norton, 92, of Falmouth, Maine, died Dec. 18, 2012, at Mercy Hospital in Portland.

She was born in Cumberland on March 2, 1920, the daughter of Eleanor (Fogg) and Fred Blanchard. She was educated in Cumberland schools and graduated from Greely Institute, Class of 1938. She went on to Farmington Normal School and married the love of her life, Loring Norton, in 1939. Mr. Norton was a longtime trainer/driver who piloted Steady Brave in the 1969 Little Brown Jug.

She is survived by her daughters, Joanne Hamilton and Judy Ambrose; six grandchildren, including Mike Graffam, who currently drives and trains at Scarborough Downs; 12 great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter; sister-in-law, Gerry Morton; brother-in-law, Percy Norton; and many nieces and nephews and a large extended family. She was preceded in death by her husband, Loring and brothers, Richard and Stanley Blanchard.

Visiting hours will be on Thursday (Dec. 20) from 4-7 p.m., at Lindquist Funeral Home, One Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth. A funeral service will be on Friday (Dec. 21) at 11 a.m. at Falmouth Congregational Church, 267 Falmouth Rd., Falmouth, with a reception in the church hall after. Burial will be in West Cumberland Cemetery in the spring of 2013.

Memorial contributions may be made to Falmouth Congregational Church or the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals.