Jean Greenlees Ruggles, who had a long career teaching at the Montauk School, died at home in Montauk on Sept. 1. She was 96.
Her grandsons, Matthew J. Lycke of Jupiter, Fla., and Ian H. Lycke of Knoxville, Tenn., are her primary surviving relatives. The brothers were “the light of her life,” they wrote. “She instilled in them the sense of adventure, friendship, and good looks that Jean embodied so well.”
Mrs. Ruggles retired from teaching in 1983 after 26 years. An ordained deacon and ruling elder at the Montauk Community Church, she would help out with its popular Saturday rummage sales whenever she could, her grandsons said.
Her house was said never to be empty; there was always someone stopping by to chat or say hello. Mrs. Ruggles was also known for her Ladies on the Lawn social circle at home, in which she and her friends would regularly sit out front with glasses of wine “and stories to tell or memories of the old days to recall,” her grandsons wrote. “They drew the attention of the many who drove by, usually joining the party with a quick honk or a very clear ‘Grandma!’ shouted as they passed by.”
Born in the Bronx on Nov. 11, 1927, she grew up enjoying “all that the growing city had to offer.”
After high school, she attended what is now called Adelphi University, where she found she wanted to teach. Her first job was in the Pelham, N.Y., public schools.
In 1983, she and James J. Ruggles were married. He died in 1998.
Mrs. Ruggles passed her passion for education on to her daughter, Pamela Kent Lycke, who followed in her mother’s footsteps as a teacher. Ms. Lycke died in 1995.
“Whether you knew Jean as a grandmother, a friend, or as an educator, you knew that she lived life with a kind heart and beautiful soul,” her grandsons wrote. “She always made you feel comforted in her presence with her never-ending positivity. Her entertaining stories of her worldly travels — and she touched every corner of the world — made you feel like you were on the trip with her, sitting in the Jeep on the safari in Africa or admiring Michelangelo’s work at the Sistine Chapel.”
She had a keen wit and an even sharper fashion sense, with “an outfit for every occasion and a dress for every dance,” her family wrote. She considered everyone a friend, “whether she just met you or you had known her forever.”
In addition to her grandsons, Mrs. Ruggles leaves her beloved cat, Abbey Tabby. “They were inseparable and never missed an episode of ‘Judge Judy,’ ” her family wrote.
A funeral service will take place on Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Montauk Community Church, followed by burial at Fort Hill Cemetery and a celebration of her life at her home.
