Ruth Wills, 102, teacher for 45 years, frightened football players

Ruth E. Wills of Danbury, a Ridgefield teacher for 45 years and a resident for 75, died Sunday, Feb. 13, at Mediplex in Danbury. She was 102 years old, one of the few people to have lived in three centuries.
Miss Wills was probably the oldest Ridgefield teacher. She came here in 1920 to teach foreign languages in the relatively new Hamilton High School, a two-story frame building that stood on Bailey Avenue where there's now a municipal parking lot. She continued to teach at Ridgefield High School until her retirement in 1965.
When, in a 1954 interview, Miss Wills was asked what she liked most about teaching, she replied: "It is very gratifying to know that perhaps in some small way I have been able to help various students to attain and achieve their goal toward a happy, democratic way of life."
Miss Wills was born in Monson, Mass., on Sept. 10, 1897, a daughter of George E. and Emma D Maguire Wills. She graduated from Monson Academy in 1916 and from Colby College in Maine four years later.
In September 1920, she came to Ridgefield, teaching Latin, French, German and English during her long career. One of her first students was the late Isabel M. O'Shea, who became the first principal of Veterans Park School in the 1950s.
In her later years, Miss Wills taught only Latin. She was known by her students for her sense of humor and among her favorite stories was about a Latin II test in which a student, in answer to a question based on the second periphrastic conjugation, wrote, "This construction is known as the second pair of elastics."
She was also a strict disciplinarian. Only about five feet tall, Miss Wills "scared some of the biggest guys in Ridgefield," said Town Clerk Barbara Serfilippi, a 1960 graduate of the high school. "She was a little lady but, boy, you didn't mess with her!"
Miss Wills was a woman of many interests. She spoke several languages fluently, followed foreign affairs closely, collected antique foreign coins, knitted, did crossword puzzles, and was an avid fan of the New York Rangers, the New York Knicks, and -- in their day -- the Brooklyn Dodgers,
Her survivors include her friend and caregiver, Betty Caillouette of Bethel. Her brother, Evan, died before her.
The Rev. Mark Kennedy, pastor of the First Church of Monson, conducted services Wednesday at the Lombard Funeral Home in Monson. Burial was in Hillside Cemetery, Monson.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Wilbraham and Monson Academy, 423 Main Street, Wilbraham, Mass., 04095.