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Martha Ruggles Bernhard Updike

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Martha Franc Ruggles Bernhard Updike (October 18, 1937 – October 9, 2023) was an American social worker and the widow of author John Updike. She served as a model for several of his fictional characters, including in his story "A Constellation of Events", which was loosely based on the initiation of their relationship.[1]

Early life and education

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Martha Franc Ruggles was born on October 18, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois, to Frederic Stanbro Ruggles and Margaret Meyers Ruggles.[2] She spent a large part of her early childhood in Chicago,[3] and the family lived with her paternal grandfather, Charles Ruggles, a textile manufacturer, during her early years.[4][5][6] After leaving Chicago as a child, Ruggles largely grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut.[7][8] She then attended Cornell University as a member of the class of 1959 where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.[9] At Cornell she studied under Vladimir Nabokov, who considered her a star pupil, and she largely adopted Nabokov's perspective on literature.[10] She received an M.Ed. from Harvard University in 1964 and an M.S.W. from Simmons University in 1988.[11]

First marriage and family

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In 1959 in Groton, Connecticut,[12] Martha Ruggles married Alexander Bernhard.[13][14] Bernhard was a 1957 graduate of MIT and 1964 Harvard Law School graduate and Navy reserve submariner from 1957 to 1961.[15] The Bernhards had three sons together, John, Jason, and Frederic.[16] From 1965 to 1966 they lived in Eugene, Oregon, while Alexander worked for a firm there after clerking for Judge Charles Merton Merrill of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1964 to 1965.[17]

Relationship and marriage to John Updike

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Polly Dole House (ca. 1687) in Ipswich which the Bernhards purchased from the Updikes in 1970

In 1966 the Bernhards moved back to the Boston area and were living in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1970 when they purchased John Updike's house (Polly Dole House) in Ipswich, Massachusetts, when the Updikes moved to a larger home in town.[18][19] By at least 1975 Martha had developed a relationship with John Updike, and they appeared publicly together.[20] The Bernhards divorced, and by 1976 Alexander Bernhard became the sole owner of Updike's former house.[21] Martha married John Updike in 1977 at Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead.[22] Just before their wedding, Bernhard married Joyce Harrington, an ex-mistress of John Updike.[23] John and Martha Updike resided in Georgetown, Massachusetts, until 1982, when they moved to Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.[24][25] Although John Updike often borrowed experiences from his family life in his writing, Martha's ex-husband threatened legal action if Updike wrote about his stepsons in his thinly fictionalized writing, so Updike largely refrained from doing so.[26] But Updike did borrow from Martha's experience with Nabokov in his fiction, and dedicated several pieces to her.[27][28] Martha Updike attended church with John at St. John's Episcopal Church in Beverly.[29] The Updikes remained married until John's death in 2009.[30]

After his death, Martha Updike moved to a Wenham condo[31] until leaving in 2016 to move into assisted living.[32] During John Updike's life, Martha Updike largely served as self-appointed gatekeeper for his writing, and after his death Martha shared decision-making about his copyrights with his children.[33] She died in New York City on October 9, 2023, at the age of 85. She had been suffering from dementia for several years.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "Reading the John Updike stories: 'A Constellation of Events'". www.jsonline.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Illinois Birth Registry available on familysearch.com
  3. ^ Chicago Tribune September 21, 1965, (Chicago, Il) p. 41
  4. ^ 1940 US Census, Accessible on familysearch.com
  5. ^ 1950 U.S. Census, Chicago, IL: Enumeration District 16-237
  6. ^ Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum Chicago Gravestone Records
  7. ^ Cornell University, Directory of Students, 1956-57 and 1957-1958 accessible at Cornell.edu
  8. ^ "Martha Ruggles UPDIKE" https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/martha-updike-obituary?id=53329288 (accessed 2/1/24)
  9. ^ Cornell Alumni news May 13, 1956, Volume 58, Number 16, p. 551 accessible at cornell.edu
  10. ^ Ben Dhooge, Jürgen Pieters, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lectures on Literature: Portraits (2017), p. 213
  11. ^ Jack De Bellis, The John Updike Encyclopedia, (2000) p. 473
  12. ^ Connecticut Marriage Index on familysearch.com
  13. ^ "Obituary DORA BERNHARD" Salisbury, Somerset County, PA (1942) http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/obits/b4/bernhard-dora.txt ((Alexander Bernhard was born 1936 in New Orleans), the son of John Helanus, a civil engineer originally from Holland, and Dora (Solosko) Bernhard (1903-1942), a podiatrist originally from Latvia)
  14. ^ "Myra Mayman Weds Alexander Bernhard". The New York Times. November 3, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  15. ^ "Myra Mayman Weds Alexander Bernhard". The New York Times. November 3, 1986. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  16. ^ "Myra Mayman Weds Alexander Bernhard," The New York Times, Nov. 3, 1986 https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/03/style/myra-mayman-weds-alexander-bernhard.html
  17. ^ "Alexander A. Bernhard: RETIRED PARTNER" https://www.wilmerhale.com/en/people/alex-bernhard (accessed 8/18/2022)
  18. ^ John Updike, Christopher Carduff, Selected Poems (2015) p. 282
  19. ^ Salem (Essex) Registry of Deeds, Deed accessible online at BK 5686, PG 151 https://salemdeeds.com
  20. ^ Nathan Scott McNamara, "When Updike Met Barth" The Millions, October 27, 2014 https://themillions.com/2014/10/when-updike-met-barth.html (accessed August 15, 2022)
  21. ^ Salem (Essex) Registry of Deeds, Deed accessible online at BK 6257 PG 124 (1976) and BK 06722 PG 502 (1980). He sold the house in 1980 to a new owner.
  22. ^ Adam Begley, Updike (Harper Collins: 2014)
  23. ^ Adam Begley, Updike (Harper Collins: 2014)
  24. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (January 28, 2009). "John Updike, a Lyrical Writer of the Middle-Class Man, Dies at 76". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  25. ^ Salem (Essex) Registry of Deeds, Deed accessible online at BK 6921 PG 697 https://salemdeeds.com (provides a 1982 deed)
  26. ^ Lorentzen, Christian (June 4, 2014). "All he does is write his novel". London Review of Books. Vol. 36, no. 11. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  27. ^ Ben Dhooge, Jürgen Pieters, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lectures on Literature: Portraits (2017), p. 213
  28. ^ Jack De Bellis, The John Updike Encyclopedia, (2000) p. 473
  29. ^ "Ordained Servant October 2016: The Violet Hour by Katie Roiphe: A Review Article". opc.org. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  30. ^ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (January 28, 2009). "John Updike, a Lyrical Writer of the Middle-Class Man, Dies at 76". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  31. ^ Writers, Amanda Ostuni and Ethan Forman Staff (September 17, 2015). "Updated: Updike's widow unhurt in crash into front of bank". Salem News. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  32. ^ "Welcome: Martha Updike" (PDF). Fox Hill Village-Westwood. February 2016.
  33. ^ Adam Begley, Updike (Harper Collins: 2014)
  34. ^ "Martha Ruggles Updike". Legacy. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
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