Mary Ruth Naccash was born in May 27, 1918 in Richmond, Va., the second of four daughters to Irma and Henry Boyles.

Tragedy struck her family when she was young, and Mary Ruth spent much of her childhood as an orphan at the Episcopal Convent of the Transfiguration in Cincinnati, Ohio.

She completed the nursing program at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, and then enlisted in the Army, where she served until the end of World War II. She trained as a nurse anesthetist at Johns Hopkins.

After the war, she worked at Arlington Hospital in Virginia, where she met her husband.

She raised five children, returning to the medical field in the late 1960s.

Although she had many interests in her life, she was in her 50s before she studied art, beginning with oil painting and later working in watercolors.

She traveled extensively in her later years, and many of the cities she visited are reflected in her work.

She died peacefully in her sleep in August 2005, at the age of 87.

Naccash never attended art school. All of her training was through private instructors and workshops. The youthfulness of her spirit shows through in all her artwork and it was a youthfulness she never lost. We hope you delight in her artwork as much as we have.