Beaver Island ArchiveA primary-source archive & encyclopedia45°40′N 85°33′W · Lake Michigan
Search

Person

Ruth Ellen Gregg

Also Ruthie Gregg · Ruth Ellen Gregg · Ruth Gregg · Ruth Himebaugh · Ruthie Himebaugh

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Active
fl. 1973
Work
Gift-shop owner, Ruthie's Bits of Beaver · Board member, Beaver Island Civic Association · Secretary, Beaver Island Civic Association · Emergency Medical Technician
Parents
Philip Robert Gregg · Lillian Isabel Gregg
Member of
Ruthie’s Bits of Beaver Gift Shop · Beaver Island Civic Association
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
communityeconomyhealthcaregovernance
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Ruth Ellen Gregg, daughter of Philip R. and Lillian Gregg, owned Ruthie’s Bits of Beaver Gift Shop on Beaver Island and married David Ray Himebaugh of Charlevoix at Holy Cross Church on September 22, 1973. As Ruth, Ruthie, or Ruthie (Gregg) Himebaugh, she raised two island-born children, served two documented terms on the Beaver Island Civic Association board and one term as its secretary, helped run the association’s Fourth of July fireworks fundraising and the island’s March of Dimes drive, and trained as an Emergency Medical Technician across two decades, from 1986 to at least 2006.

Engagement, shop, and wedding

The Beaver Beacon announced the engagement in May 1973, identifying Gregg as the gift shop’s owner and her fiancé as an employee of the Will Flow Company. That July the paper reported the shop open for the summer with gifts made by island residents. The September–October issue’s wedding report describes a ceremony before about 200 guests, with her sister, Mrs. Joseph Moore, as maid of honor, and gives her father’s name as “Philip R. Gregg of St. James” — the middle initial that ties this record to his other Beaver Beacon appearances.

Family and civic life as Ruth Himebaugh

The Beacon’s birth notices record two children: a daughter, Angela Hope, born January 26, 1974, and a son, Michael Thomas, born October 10, 1977, both to “Mr. and Mrs. David Himebaugh,” with Philip Gregg of Beaver Island and Archie Himebaugh of Charlevoix named as grandparents on both occasions. Her husband appears once in his own right: in February 1978 David Himebaugh co-led a Boy Scout Troop 200 weekend camp-out to Garden Island with Joe Moore. That same month “Ruth Himebaugh” was one of several women Vera Wogan thanked for helping run the island’s March of Dimes drive, which raised $423.50. By January 1977 “Ruth Himebaugh” sat on the nine-member Beaver Island Civic Association board, and a February 1980 letter to the membership recalls that “the Civic’s secretary (who was Ruth Himebaugh up until recently) has been answering an average of 800–900 inquiries per year” — placing her tenure in that office sometime before 1980. In June 1981 she was the named contact, alongside Sandy Fortier, for renting a vendor table at a dance raising money for the association’s Fourth of July fireworks fund, and at the association’s January 7, 1982 annual meeting she was elected to the board a second time, under incoming president Kathleen “Kitty” McNamara.

Both children reached adulthood on the island under the Himebaugh name and were then recorded under variants of their mother’s. A June 1992 item on graduating seniors’ plans names “Angela Himebaugh (Gregg), daughter of Ruth Gregg,” heading to Michigan Christian College — the first held source to call the mother “Ruth Gregg” rather than “Himebaugh” since 1973 — while an October 1996 item on the same theme names “Michael Himebaugh (son of Ruthie Himebaugh)” enrolling at the Michigan Career Technical Institute, reverting to “Himebaugh.” A September 2003 “Thirty Years Ago” retrospective, recalling the season’s weddings, likewise lists “Ruth Gregg and David Himebaugh.”

She trained as an Emergency Medical Technician in a class that began in October 1986, completed further CPR coursework in 1989, served as one of the island’s 1990 census takers alongside Beth Croswhite and Doris Shirk, and completed another 80-hour EMT class in February 2006 — evidence of roughly twenty years of continued emergency-service training.

Evidence and limits

The newspaper accounts establish a reported engagement, an open shop, a church wedding, two children’s births, two terms on the Civic Association board, one term as its secretary, fireworks-fund and March of Dimes volunteer work, and EMT training, but not a civil marriage record, business registration, or a complete civic or medical-service history. The Beacon’s own naming is inconsistent after 1973: “Himebaugh” through 1990, “Gregg” in a 1992 graduate-plans item, “Himebaugh” again in 1996, and “Gregg” in a 2003 retrospective. A 2022 funeral-home obituary for her mother lists a “Ruth Gregg of Beaver Island” among the surviving children, using the maiden name. This article does not assert whether the 1973 marriage to Himebaugh ended — the alternating names could reflect a later divorce, informal usage by different writers, or both — only that every record traced here points to the same Gregg parents and the same two children.

Open questions

  • What years did Gregg/Himebaugh serve as Civic Association secretary and as a board member the second time, and who succeeded her in each role?
  • Does the shift between “Himebaugh” and “Gregg” in the 1990s and 2000s Beacon reflect a change in marital status, or only inconsistent usage?
  • Did she remain an active EMT after 2006, and for how long did the family live at Bay Shore before returning to St. James, if they did?

See also

Kin

LillianIsabel Gregg1924 – 2022PhilipRobert Greggb. c. 1925This articleRuth Ellen Gregg
Only relations stated in the sources are drawn; absence means unrecorded, not childless or unmarried.

The dated record

2 dated events · 1973–1973These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Identifies Ruth Ellen Gregg as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philip R. Gregg, owner of Ruthie's Bits of Beaver Gift Shop, and announces her engagement to David Ray Himebaugh, son of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Himebaugh of Charlevoix, with the wedding planned for September 22 on the island; it supplies no civil or business record.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-05_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-05_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Reports Ruthie Gregg's Bits of Beaver Gift Shop open with gifts made by island residents; it does not provide a registration, inventory, or exact opening date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-07_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Reports Ruth Ellen Gregg's September 22, 1973 marriage to David Ray Himebaugh at Holy Cross Church before about 200 guests, names Mrs. Joseph Moore, sister of the bride, as maid of honor, and gives the parents as Mr. and Mrs. Philip R. Gregg of St. James.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-09_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the combined September–October publication; it does not expand the published source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-09_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Lists Ruth Gregg of Beaver Island among the surviving children of Lillian Isabel (MacDonald) Gregg at her 2022 death, using the maiden name rather than Himebaugh; this article does not assert whether the 1973 marriage ended, only that both records name the same Gregg parents.
  8. Reports the January 26, 1974 birth of a daughter, Angela Hope, to "Mr. and Mrs. David Himebaugh," of Bay Shore, with grandparents Archie Himebaugh of Charlevoix and Philip Gregg of Beaver Island.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Reports the October 10, 1977 birth of a son, Michael Thomas, to Mr. and Mrs. David Himebaugh, with the same two sets of grandparents. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-10_Beaver-Beacon
  10. Names Ruth Himebaugh among the nine-member Beaver Island Civic Association board elected January 13, 1977, alongside Ellen Welke, Phil Gregg, Mark Welke, and Bea Parker, with Bill Wagner as president and Barbara Beckers as treasurer. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-01_Beaver-Beacon
  11. States that "the Civic's secretary (who was Ruth Himebaugh up until recently) has been answering an average of 800-900 inquiries per year," describing the office as of early 1980, after she had already left it. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1980-02_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Names "Ruthie Himebaugh" among ten students in an EMT class begun in October 1986 with a projected April 1987 graduation, alongside Neal and Connie Boyle, Bill Markey, Shelley Kammer, Jerry Sowa, Joe Moore, Jim Hibbler, and Mary Delamater. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1986-12_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Lists Ruth Himebaugh among islanders who completed CPR courses since April 1989. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1989-07_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Names "Ruthie (Gregg) Himebaugh," alongside Beth Croswhite and Doris Shirk, as one of the census takers who would collect completed 1990 census questionnaires. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1990-04_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Beaver Beacon, February 2006, EMT class report.
    Lists Ruth Himebaugh among thirteen islanders completing an 80-hour EMT class, evidence of continued emergency-service training two decades after her first. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-02_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Names David Himebaugh, with Joe Moore, as a leader on a Boy Scout Troop 200 weekend camp-out to Garden Island -- the only held source documenting her husband's own island activity. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-02_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Names Ruth Himebaugh among the women Vera Wogan thanks for helping with the island's March of Dimes drive, which raised $423.50. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1978-02_Beaver-Beacon
  18. Names "Ruthie Himebaugh" (with Sandy Fortier) as the contact to reserve a vendor table at a dance benefiting the Fourth of July fireworks fund. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1981-06_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Reports the Civic Association's January 7, 1982 annual meeting and names Ruth Himebaugh among the new board members elected under incoming president Kathleen "Kitty" McNamara -- a second documented term on the board, five years after the first. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1982-01_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Reports that "Angela Himebaugh (Gregg), daughter of Ruth Gregg," would attend Michigan Christian College that fall -- the 1974-born daughter grown to college age, and the first held source to call the mother "Ruth Gregg" rather than "Himebaugh" after 1973. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1992-06_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Reports that "Michael Himebaugh (son of Ruthie Himebaugh)" would enroll at the Michigan Career Technical Institute in Plainwell -- the 1977-born son at college age, and reverts to calling the mother "Ruthie Himebaugh." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1996-10_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Beaver Beacon, September 2003, "Thirty Years Ago."
    A retrospective column recalls the 1973 weddings reported that season, listing "Ruth Gregg and David Himebaugh" among them; derivative of the 1973 report, not an independent source. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2003-09_Beaver-Beacon

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Ruth Ellen Gregg”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/ruth-ellen-gregg/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, May 1973, “Engagement.” (and 21 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

BibTeXRIS