BRUNSWICK — Ruth Mills Gaudet, age 97, died Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at Hill House Assisted Living, Bath.

She was born in Oxford, Nova Scotia on September 29, 1915 to Stella West Mills and Coughlin Lumley Mills. She moved to South Paris, Maine in 1918 and became naturalized United States citizen. She graduated from South Paris High School in 1933 and received her teaching certificate from Gorham Normal School in 1935.

She taught one year in a rural school in South Paris, teaching in an eighth grade classroom with no electricity or running water. She married William Fred Gaudet in 1936 and moved to Mexico, ME where their two sons and one daughter were born. Gaudet moved to Harps well, ME in 1944 and eventually resumed teaching. She retired from West Harps well School after 19 additional years of teaching.

She and her husband enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing, rock and mineral hunting, and bird watching until his death in 1982. She then moved to Brunswick, ME where she was a member of the Brunswick United Methodist Church as well as the South Paris Alumni Association, and the Brunswick- Bath Retired Teacher’s Association. From the age of 90, Gaudet lived at Hill House in Bath where she continued to enjoy bird watching and tending to the flowers in the outdoor planters.

Gaudet is survived by a son, Peter F. Gaudet and his wife, Sylvia, of Harpswell; a son, James I Gaudet and his wife, Juliana, of Harpswell; a daughter, Joanne R. Mallett of Rochester, New Hampshire; 10 grandchildren, 17 greatgrandchildren, several step grandchildren, step greatgrandchildren, great-great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be announced later for a date in May. Interment will be in the West Harpswell Cemetery. Condolences and memories can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Harpswell Neck Fire-Rescue Irving F. Chipman Station, P.O. Box 8, Harpswell, ME 04079.