Ruth J. Knutsen

Newport, RI - Ruth J. Knutsen, a retired Captain of the US Army Nurse Corps, 96, a resident of the Village House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Newport, and formerly of Greenville, East Providence, and Little Compton, died Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at the center.Born in Brooklyn, NY on March 9, 1908, she was the daughter of the late Severin and Astrid Hendriksen Knutsen. She moved to Norway with her family while a toddler and returned to the United States at age 14. Miss Knutsen was a 1933 graduate from Swedish Hospital School of Nursing, in New York City. A registered nurse by training, Miss Knutsen served with the US Army Nurse Corps from November of 1942 to December of 1945, during World War II. She later served the Army reserves from 1946 to 1961. She was awarded the WWII Victory Medal, the European, African, Middle Eastern Campaign Medals and the American Campaign Medal. After the war she was a staff nurse for the Department of Health in New York City from 1946 to 1947. From 1947 until her retirement in 1974, she was supervisor of the Surgical Unit at for the U.S. Veterans Administration in Newington, CT, Providence, RI and Brockton, MA. She is survived by her brother Edward Knutsen of Seattle, WA, and fifteen nieces and nephews.Burial with full Military Honors will take place Monday, June 21, at 3:00pm in the Arlington National Cemetery in Alexandria, VA.Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 222 Richmond Street, Providence, RI 02903-4253 or to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, RI Chapter, 205 Hallene Road, Warwick, RI 02886.