Ruth Frank, a Phoenix resident with a collection of 351 teddy bears, died of cancer Thursday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 78.
Born Ruth Zinkhan, Mrs. Frank was one of two girls in a German family with 12 children. She was raised on a farm in Monkton, called to do chores alongside all her brothers.
She met her husband, Paul J. Frank Sr., because two of her brothers had married two of his sisters. He was trained as a carpenter and later worked as a construction contractor.
The couple were married Oct. 5, 1946, at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweet Air - the same church where his funeral was held in 2001 and hers was held Saturday.
Known for her generosity, she loved baking, gardening, and all sorts of arts and crafts, from painting to needlepoint. She made quilts for all her grandchildren and last week had completed a crochet blanket for the crib of a great-grandchild due in September.
"She could do anything with her hands, anything," said her daughter, Mary H. Prime of Phoenix. "There wasn't anything she couldn't make beautiful."
A homemaker, Mrs. Frank collected teddy bears for as long as her daughter could recall.
"That was her favorite thing in all the world, besides her kids and her grandchildren," said Ms. Prime, who was born on her parents' second wedding anniversary. "She had teddy bears everywhere."
All the bears - many of them from the Boyds Bears collection - had names. Mrs. Frank would rotate which ones she kept in boxes so that all of them had a chance to be on display in her home.
Unable to use her legs for the past nine years as a result of a blood clot, Mrs. Frank went to live with her daughter after her husband's death. She would often ride her scooter down the road to her old house, and sit in the backyard where she used to love to garden.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Frank is survived by two sons, Paul J. Frank Jr. of Joppa and Raymond V. Frank of Monkton; a sister, Betty Beall of Monkton; a brother, Lewis Zinkhan of Phoenix; nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.