Philanthropist and civic leader. Raised in a stately Swiss Avenue mansion, Ruth was the youngest child of Fidelity Union Life Insurance founder Carr Collins and his wife, Ruth. Her brother Jim Collins was a U.S. congressman from 1968-1983. She met and married a Navy pilot, Lt. Bleecker P. Seaman, Jr. and two years later his plane was downed in a World War II bombing raid over Tokyo, leaving her a widow at age 20. In 1947, Ruth met her second husband, Charles S. Sharp, a law student and Navy man who would count John F. Kennedy among the young officers he trained to command PT boats. After graduating from SMU, she joined the Junior League, a women's civic organization. Even as her husband's Parkinson's disease diagnosis took a toll, she became the first woman to chair the local boards of agencies such as the United Way and Salvation Army. Her second husband died in 1984 and in 1987, she married physician Kenneth Z. Altshuler. According to the Texas State History Museum Foundation, Ruth Altshuler was honored for her service by organizations including Southern Methodist University, the Texas House of Representatives, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Society of Fundraising Executives, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and the International Junior League. At the national level, Altshuler was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Library of Congress Trust. In 2004 Secretary of State Colin Powell named her to the United States Commission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She is survived by her husband, two daughters and a son, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Philanthropist and civic leader. Raised in a stately Swiss Avenue mansion, Ruth was the youngest child of Fidelity Union Life Insurance founder Carr Collins and his wife, Ruth. Her brother Jim Collins was a U.S. congressman from 1968-1983. She met and married a Navy pilot, Lt. Bleecker P. Seaman, Jr. and two years later his plane was downed in a World War II bombing raid over Tokyo, leaving her a widow at age 20. In 1947, Ruth met her second husband, Charles S. Sharp, a law student and Navy man who would count John F. Kennedy among the young officers he trained to command PT boats. After graduating from SMU, she joined the Junior League, a women's civic organization. Even as her husband's Parkinson's disease diagnosis took a toll, she became the first woman to chair the local boards of agencies such as the United Way and Salvation Army. Her second husband died in 1984 and in 1987, she married physician Kenneth Z. Altshuler. According to the Texas State History Museum Foundation, Ruth Altshuler was honored for her service by organizations including Southern Methodist University, the Texas House of Representatives, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Society of Fundraising Executives, the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and the International Junior League. At the national level, Altshuler was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Library of Congress Trust. In 2004 Secretary of State Colin Powell named her to the United States Commission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She is survived by her husband, two daughters and a son, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Gravesite Details
interment details pending
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
