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American writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruth Belle Willey Gue (April 8, 1860 – October 23, 1944) was an American writer and clubwoman, based in San Diego in later life. She wrote poetry, stories, and articles for magazines and newspapers, and published about a dozen books.
Ruth Belle Willey was born on April 8, 1860, in Inland, Cedar County, Iowa, the daughter of Ward Willis Willey and Sarah Jennie Russel Willey.[1] She graduated from Oberlin College in 1882[1][2]
Gue's poems and stories appeared in the Los Angeles Times,[3] The Cosmopolitan,[4] Outdoor Life[5][6] The Kindergarten Primary Magazine,[7] and Overland Monthly.[8][9][10][11] She also published about a dozen books, including historical fiction,[12][13] dramas,[14] and collections of verse. "Mrs. Gue undoubtedly has the poetic instinct and understands the art of versification," noted a 1905 reviewer in Nebraska, "but no one but a martyr or most intimate friend would want to read more than two of her eighty-four short poems at one sitting. There isn't a gleam of joy in the whole book – it is simply saturated sombreness."[15]
In 1901, Gue was founding president of the Winside Woman's Club in Nebraska.[16] In 1918, she wrote the lyrics for "Our Golden State", an entry in a patriotic song contest during World War I.[17] She also wrote the lyrics of "The Elm Trees of Oberlin", which was sung at an alumni association event in San Diego in 1924.[18] She was a member of the San Diego Writers' Club,[19] California Writers Club, and the Oberlin Alumni Association.[1]
She moved to California in 1913 and lived in San Diego. She married her cousin Willey Merrill Gue in 1885;[1] They divorced in 1910, and he died in 1922. She died on October 23, 1944, and her grave is in San Diego.
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