Ruth E. Gaynor

Ruth Elizabeth Gaynor of East Hampton, who was a domestic employee for a number of celebrities for over 50 years, died of pulmonary failure at home on Town Lane on Dec. 30. She was 84, and had been ill for two weeks.

Born on April 10, 1934, in Severn, Md., to the former Helen Blackstone and Irving Milton Eldridge, she was the fifth of 12 children. She attended public schools in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County and earned an associate’s degree in 1955 from the Cortez Peters Business School. She moved to New York City in the 1960s, and, in 1967, married Oscar Lloyd Gaynor, whom she had met in church. He died before her.

Working for a family that had a house in East Hampton brought her to the East End, where she was an active member of the Living Water Full Gospel Church in Wainscott. 

She is survived by two daughters, Vindel Gaynor-Hopson of East Hampton and Vera Jennings of Dillon, N.C., as well as by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Visiting hours and a funeral, conducted by the Rev. Joseph Kelly, took place at the Living Water Church on Jan. 3.

She was buried at Meadowridge Memorial Park in Elkridge, Md.