When Ruth Griggs ’63 returned to campus in December, it wasn’t a grand gesture or a formal event that stayed with her most—it was a quiet moment as the sun began to set in the library.
The room, filled now with books and light, was once the art room when Ruth attended what was then called the Day School. Watching the late-afternoon light shift across the space, Ruth found herself holding past and present at once: the memory of a school that shaped her, and the living, breathing place it continues to be today.
Ruth is a proud member of the Class of 1963, and her visit was marked by a deep sense of recognition—of continuity, and of care. She has spoken about how the Day School made her feel both held and pushed: supported by teachers who knew her well, and challenged to think, question, and grow. Even during the school’s most progressive era—when ideas like teaching verb tenses through exploration and context (rather than drills!) were controversial—Ruth remembers a learning environment that trusted students to wrestle with complexity and find their own footing.
That balance of care and challenge is something Ruth has carried with her ever since.
Today, Ruth is a leading force in the cultural life of Northampton. She serves as Board President of the Northampton Jazz Festival, where she has played a pivotal role in revitalizing the organization—reforming the board, reinstating its nonprofit status, and guiding the festival’s return in 2018 after a brief hiatus. Under her leadership, the festival has grown into a respected regional event, drawing thousands of people to downtown Northampton each fall.
In recognition of her decades-long commitment to sustaining and expanding jazz as a living art form, Ruth was recently named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association—a national honor that celebrates individuals who go above and beyond to support the jazz ecosystem through advocacy, education, and community-building. She was also named a Difference Maker by Business West in 2022 for her career as a marketing strategist and her leadership in the arts.
For Ruth, these honors are less about personal recognition and more about stewardship—of music, of community, and of spaces where creativity can thrive. That throughline traces directly back to her early years at the Day School, where she learned that ideas matter, voices matter, and culture is something we are all responsible for carrying forward.
As Ruth reflected on her visit, it was clear that the school remains, in many ways, what it has always been: a place where students are invited to think deeply, feel fully, and engage the world with curiosity and care. Seeing the sun set in the old art room—now the library—was a reminder that while spaces evolve, the spirit of the school endures.
We are grateful to Ruth Griggs ’63 for returning, for remembering, and for continuing to model what it looks like to live a life shaped by creativity, courage, and community.