Author Ruth A. Steinert produced a biography about her hometown half a century ago.

It was the first Tamaqua history book published by a descendant of one of the town’s pioneer families.

The work is still valued and sought after today.

Steinert, who was 75 years old at the time, was a civic leader and businesswoman. She also was a poet, actress, and playwright.

She guided her town in recognizing the importance of children and, at the same time, pioneered the cause of animal rights.

All along, she was a local cultural icon, a humble woman destined to leave a mark.

South Ward

Steinert was born in 1898, daughter of Henry and Anna Storch Steinert.

Her grandparents had opened a grocery story at 157 Penn St. in 1870, where she was born.

Growing up, she blazed a trail during the era of women’s suffrage.

With red, upswept hair, elegant bow and brooch, she was an Edwardian figure who espoused ideas such as gender equality.

Her hometown was Tamaqua. But her community, specifically, was the South Ward, where she worked in the family store and helped those less fortunate.

By the 1940s, she helped launch the South Ward Baby and Pet Parade.

“At first, they wanted to give a prize to the prettiest baby,” Steinert said. “But I told them ‘you can’t do that! Every mother thinks her child is the prettiest and that’s the way it’s supposed to be!’”

The festival grew into a major event, also sparking the annual South Ward Soapbox Derby, one of the first in the nation.

At the same time, she created the Tamaqua SPCA, serving as perennial president.

“She was a dear friend, always a kind woman,” said neighbor June Krell.

Krell passed in 2022 but was proud of the fact that Steinert had bequeathed to her a prized sewing machine.

“She would always talk to me about poor people who didn’t have much. They would buy on credit. She’d give them the first meal free and it’d be pork and sauerkraut.”

Playwright

Steinert’s passion lay with arts and in literary circles.

On June 23, 1923, her original play, “The Waif of Sunshine Inn,” was produced in Tamaqua Liberty Hall with Steinert as director.

Proceeds were given to the Ladies Bible Class of St. John’s Reformed Church.

In her spare time, she also wrote prose and poetry.

In 1947, her short story, “Christopher,” grabbed first place in writing competition sponsored by the Schuylkill County Federation of Women’s Clubs.

She also was an avid thespian, appearing on stage and screen.

“I remember seeing her in the movies. It might’ve been a black-and-white silent film,” said Krell’s daughter, June Krell-Salgado of Salisbury, Maryland.

In 1957, Steinert starred in “Damn Yankees” as a summer stock actress at Lakewood Musical Playhouse, Barnesville.

She was particularly proud of her extensive collection of Victoriana and period costumes.

Steinert never married or had children, but cared deeply about friends.

In later years, she moved into a large corner Victorian at West Rowe and Nescopec streets.

There she served as companion and nursemaid to elderly Anna Weldy Ellick Logan.

Finally, in March, 1974, she completed her memoirs and published a 190-page hardcover, “A Hill to Climb.”

The book was illustrated by Krell-Salgado and quickly became a must-read by folks in her hometown and beyond.

Sudden end

Just two years later, however, fate reared its head.

On Sunday evening, March 15, 1976, Steinert went to check on 95-year-old Logan and found her dead.

The shock proved to be too much.

Three days later, Steinert, too, was found dead at the house, attributed to natural causes. She was 77.

A public liquidation auction was held a few weeks later and virtually all traces of her grand life disappeared.

Her extensive collections are believed to have been discarded. Gone are the period costumes, playbills, photo albums, early Tamaqua memorabilia, and Steinert’s poems, stories and writings.

The bulk of her financial estate was left to the Tamaqua SPCA.

Steinert touched many lives in seven decades, including this writer.

In the 1960s, I was her paperboy and became a friend. I attended the public sale after her death and obtained a few items as a remembrance.

Twenty years later I also acquired her Victorian parlor desk. She had kept it in her bedroom, sitting at it every night to work on her book.

On Friday, Jan. 12, I donated the collection for permanent display at the Tamaqua Area Historical Museum.

She would be humbled and speechless about it but certainly deserves the recognition.