By Daniel Witter
SEATTLE — Ruby McAndrew, a Seattle woman who spent much of her adult life chronicling the North Olympic Peninsula’s early history, writing under her maiden name of Ruby El Hult, died last week in her sleep. She was 95.
Mrs. McAndrew was born to be a writer, even when it got her into trouble, said her sister, Lorraine Plummer of Seattle.
“She was still writing up until her 90s,” Plummer said Tuesday.
There will be no services for Mrs. McAndrew, who died Feb. 18, said her friend Frank Caldwell of Port Angeles.
McAndrew’s writing career started in the early 1950s.
She wrote at least eight books of history and numerous articles.
Her first book, “Steamboats in the Timbers” was published in 1952.
“Untamed Olympics,” followed in 1954. “Treasure Hunting Northwest” was published in 1971 and “Herb Crisler in the Olympic Mountain Wilds,” which was published in 1977 and republished in 1992.
Her book “Northwest Disaster,” published in 1960, was a two-part historical work.
The first part was on the 1910 forest fire that raged across Washington state and Idaho.
The second part was on the Wellington Disaster, in which a train became stuck in the snow on a mountain pass and was swept down a mountainside by an avalanche.
Many people died in the event, Plummer said.
Mrs. McAndrew was born Aug. 14, 1912, in Belgrove, Idaho, to John Adolf and Carolina (Pearson) Hult.
Her family moved to the Spokane area while she was still young. She graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane in 1932 and attended the University of Washington in 1945 and 1946.
Much of Mrs. McAndrew’s notes and articles are stored at the University of Washington Library’s Manuscripts, Archives and Social Collections division in Pullman.
“I think she made a real contribution,” said Trevor Bond, the division’s interim chief.
“There is a general interest in her papers that goes beyond standard academic use.”
From an early age, Mrs. McAndrew had some sort of writing implement in her hand, said her sister.
Sometimes, her writing angered her parents because she would write on the walls when the family had no paper to spare.
“She was just a writer, that’s all there was to it. She was an avid writer,” Plummer said.
“She loved history. They [her writings] were always about history.”
Mrs. McAndrew made a big impression on Plummer’s children.
“She was like a second mother to my kids,” Plummer said.
“She was the one who really introduced them to books. I was too busy.”
Author Frank Caldwell of Port Angeles, who was a friend of Mrs. McAndrew’s, met her several in the late 1970s.
He remembered Mrs. McAndrew as a generous person.
“She was an extremely friendly and warm woman who was willing to help anyone, especially writers,” he said.
Despite her love for the Peninsula, she never lived here.
On occasion, she visited wildlife photographers Herb and Lois Crisler, who lived seasonally in Olympic National Park.
Her first marriage was to S. John Sether, who died in 1959. She married Raymond L. McAndrew in 1961. He died in 1978.
Caldwell said Mrs. McAndrew loved the Peninsula.
“There really hadn’t been much written about it, so it was a good subject,” he said.
Dorothy Catlett who worked as a typist for Mrs. McAndrew, said the writer was meticulous about getting things right and could be outspoken.
“She was such a delightful lady,” Catlett said.
“She said it like she thought it. She was a character and I just loved her.”
