Ruth Winship was born in Toowoomba Queensland in 1918. She attended school at Loreto College Coorparoo becoming Head Girl at 16. Ruth was then sent with four fellow pupils to Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak to complete her matriculation.
Ruth entered the novitiate at Loreto Abbey, Ballarat, in February 1937, taking her first vows in December 1939. She was given the name ‘Assumpta’ and had her ring engraved with the words of her motto Pax Christi - the Peace of Christ.
Sister Ruth initially taught both junior and senior students at Loreto Abbey Ballarat, looked after the junior boarders and when she could, studied the teacher training manual. From Ballarat, Sister Ruth was sent to Loreto Marryatville in Adelaide, where she taught Music, Mathematics and Science.
In 1948, she commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne. She lived at St Mary's Hall, Parkville, run by Mother Francis Frewin, and was both student and bursar for three years.
In 1952, at the age of 33, she was appointed Mistress of School at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak, and then Mother Superior and Principal of both Convent and School. At Toorak, Sister Ruth put the teaching and learning of Science at the forefront; she became the inaugural chair of the Victorian Catholic Schools Science Teachers' Association. She was instrumental in having the Association of Catholic and Independent Schools accepted into the Victorian Independent Schools Association. Her care for the school community was legendary and her influence on students and families long lasting.
In 1962, Sister Ruth was sent to Loreto Kirribilli in Sydney and as Superior from 1964, she guided her fellow Sisters through the challenging years of Vatican II. In 1979, she returned to Loreto Mandeville Hall, where she co-ordinated a creative studies program with a social service component that powerfully influenced many students.
As she gradually withdrew from teaching, Sister Ruth took on the role of leading care for elderly nuns in the convent infirmary. When the infirmary closed in 1993, Sister Ruth supported the difficult transition for many sisters going into residential care. She left Toorak for Cabrini Ashwood in 2002 at the age of 83, where she continued to serve those around her, staff, residents and their families, as a friend and counsellor.
In 2005 she was named City of Stonnington Senior Citizen of the Year in recognition of her service to education.
In 2006 the new science block at Loreto Toorak was named in her honour, recognising her enormous contribution to the school. Sr Ruth died on August 2, 2012, having given 75 years of her life as a Loreto Sister.
