Last week I shared from the vintage recipe book
Pancakes Aplenty by Ruth Ellen Church, who wrote for the Chicago Tribune as Mary Meade. This week I will share more about Ruth's career and life.
Born Ruth Ellen Lovrien in Humbolt, Iowa, to George Washington Lovrien (1880-1918) and Jessie Marilla Carter (1876-1959), her ancestor John Loveringe was born in England in 1635 and died in New Hampshire in 1668. Samuel Lovrien fought in the 1812 Revolutionary War and his son Peter was a veteran of the war of 1812.
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| Sixteen-year-old Ruth Ellen Lovrien |
Ruth graduated from Iowa State University.
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| Ruth Ellen Lovrien |
In 1942, Ruth married Freeman Sylvester Church (1908-1968), who graduated from the Univesity of Illinois and became VP and art director of Chicago ad agency Dancer-Fitzgerald-Sample.
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| Freeman Sylvester Church |
Freeman's father was Charles Freeman Church (1874-1959) and Anna May Dogherty (1880-1971). His father was an artist and art director for Lord & Taylor.
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Charles F. Church obit
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Freeman served in WWII.
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| Lt Church |
During the War, Ruth engaged in projects to support service men.
Freeman's died in 1968 of heart disease.
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| Freeman S. Church obit |
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| ad for Mary Meade |
Ruth had a long career as a staff writer, editor, and food critic for the Chicago Tribune and published numerous cookbooks, all under the pseudonym of Mary Meade.
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| Ruth wrote as Mary Meade for the Chicago Tribune |
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| Mary Meade 1931 |
Mary Meade proved to be hugely popular. There were Mary Meade recipe booklets, recipe cards, and books published.
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| Mary Meade wrote numerous cookbooks |
Mary Meade kept up with the times. Ruth won the 1971 Wine and Health Writing Award.
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| 1971 |
In 1991, Ruth was murdered in her home. From the New York Times obituary:
Ruth Ellen Church, an author of books on cooking and wine who was a longtime food critic for The Chicago Tribune, was found slain Tuesday in her Chicago home. She was 81 years old.
The police said Ms. Church had been strangled, apparently by a burglar.
Ms. Church, who wrote under the name Mary Meade, was food editor, cooking editor and a columnist for The Tribune for 38 years before retiring from the newspaper in 1974. She guided the development of The Tribune's test kitchen, one of the first at a newspaper, and in 1962 became the first American writing a regular wine column.
Among her books were "The Indispensable Guide for the Modern Cook" (1955), "The Burger Cookbook" (1967), "Entertaining With Wine" (1970) and "Mary Meade's Sausage Cookbook" (1967).
Surviving are two sons, Carter of Chicago and Charles of Montello, Wis., and five grandchildren.
It was a horrible crime. Ruth suffocated while bound and gagged. A friend's sixteen-year-old daughter who was in the home and sexually abused by the man identified him. In January 1992, it was reported that the police had identified the murderer.
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| January 1992 |
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I never thought that a vintage cookbook would lead me to such a horrible and tragic story.
