Ruth Hamilton

Ruth Hamilton (April 21, 1898 – January 18, 2008) was one of America's first female radio talk show hosts, and the first woman ever to win a seat in the New Hampshire legislature. Hamilton was elected twice to the New Hampshire legislature, from 1964 to 1973. She was instrumental in passing laws that shut down orphanages and made littering a crime in that state. She wrote many newspaper articles, travelogues and letters to the editor as well as her memoirs, entitled "The Hamilton Saga." She worked for a time in real estate and also had a great interest in antiques and restoring old homes.

Born in Alta, Iowa, she was married to Carter Hamilton, who set a single game strikeout record playing baseball for the University of Iowa and was a member of the 1920 World Series winning Cleveland Indians. He became a prominent radiologist and died in 1949. Ruth had been a widow ever since.

Hamilton was a world traveler well into her 90s and lectured all across the country. In her final years, she lived in an assisted living center in Central Florida and, as Ruth1898, was a member of Growing Bolder, a social networking web site. Ruth was thus touted in the media as the "world's oldest blogger", after a younger woman, 108-year-old Olive Riley of Australia, had been previously touted.