Ruth L. Welsh, 84, founder of Harford County church

Ruth L. Welsh, a founder of a Harford County Unitarian Universalist church, died of kidney failure Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 84.

A resident of Forest Hill for more than 20 years, Mrs. Welsh was born Ruth Lewis in Bel Air and was raised in Jerusalem Mill, Harford County. She was a 1934 graduate of Bel Air High School and attended Strayer's Business College.

She worked as a secretary for a Baltimore insurance company, and during World War II, was employed in the Maryland Office of Price Administration.

In 1947, she married William R. Welsh, who died in 1988.

Mrs. Welsh was a founding member of the Northern Chesapeake Unitarian Universalist Society in Fallston, and served on many of the church's committees.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Northern Chesapeake church, 1127 Old Fallston Road, Fallston.

She is survived by two godchildren, Scott McKinlay of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Dale McKinlay Inlows of Bethany Beach, Del.