Marie R. Ruffle

Marie Royce Ruffle passed away peacefully with family by her side at Covenant Living of Keene, New Hampshire on December 5, 2025. She was eagerly striving to improve her good health and return to her home of nearly 60 years in Keene.

Marie was the second daughter of the late Harold C. and Mary (Smyth) Royce born on October 8, 1929. She grew up in Jaffrey, New Hampshire enjoying the woods, fields, and nearby Gilmore Pond and Mount Monadnock. Marie graduated from Conant High School in 1948, where she played basketball and participated in a variety of clubs and student organizations. She pursued higher education for her early career as a medical technician with Dr. C. Francis Wozmak in Jaffrey. Later, after marrying Ronald Ruffle, they began their family and she assisted him in growing his dental practice in Keene.

Marie loved being outdoors and was an avid birder and observer of nature. She was a long-time member of the Monadnock Garden Club and lovingly tended the Wyman Tavern garden and Dora Spaulding Nature Trail at Monadnock State Park, as well as her own flower and vegetable gardens. Marie was a dedicated volunteer at the Horatio Colony House, Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery and Wyman Tavern, where she took great pleasure in sharing the tavern’s history with visitors and local schoolchildren. She loved local history and worked as curatorial assistant at the Historical Society of Cheshire County for 17 years continuing as a volunteer into her 90s.

Marie had a sense of adventure and fondly recalled traveling cross-country with two friends in a late 1940s Chevy to be the horseback riding counselor at a girl scout camp near Pueblo, Colorado. Years later she rode a mule into the Grand Canyon with her daughters and explored the Arizona desert where her son lived. She enjoyed hiking, downhill and cross-country skiing with friends, and playing tennis with her ladies’ groups at the Keene Racquet Club, of which she was a founding member. Marie was passionate about native plants and ecology and joined the Appalachian Mountain Club to participate in their annual hikes and view alpine wildflowers in the White Mountains.

Survivors include her children and their spouses, Peter K. Ruffle and his wife, Martha, of Keene, Betsy Ruffle and her husband, Jon Sundstrom, of Boxborough, Mass., Molly Ruffle and her husband, William Deignan, of Winchester, Mass., and five grandchildren, Michael Ruffle, Cameron Ruffle-Deignan, Nathan Ruffle-Deignan, James Sundstrom and Haley Sundstrom; her sister, Margaret Wenning of Madison Heights, VA, and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. In addition to her parents, she was pre-deceased by her brothers; CMSgt. (Ret.) Henry W. Royce of Liberty, SC, H. Charles Royce Jr., William C. Royce, and Kent M. Royce of Jaffrey.

At Marie’s request, a private service and burial in the Old Burial Ground in Jaffrey will take place at the convenience of her family. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Historical Society of Cheshire County, 246 Main Street, Keene, NH 03431.