Obituaries

Ruth AndressLegislative Researcher

Ruth Andress, 76, a legislative researcher for Northern Virginia companies, died Nov. 12 at the nursing unit of the Fountains at Washington House in Alexandria. She had Alzheimer's disease.

Ms. Andress, an Arlington resident, worked for Federal State Reports from 1971 to 1983 and then for DeHart & Darr Associates until 1987. After holding secretarial and administrative jobs at Arlington County law firms, she did freelance legislative research through the 1990s.

She was born in Fairfield, Ala., and in the early 1950s hosted a children's television program, "Wonder Stories," on WBRC-TV in Birmingham. She settled in the Washington area in 1962.

Her marriage to O. Wendell Maddrey ended in divorce.

Survivors include four children, Lee Fallon of Annandale, John Maddrey of Raleigh, N.C., Wendell Maddrey of Montclair, N.J., and Mark Maddrey of Arlington; a sister; and six grandchildren.

Helen S. ThatcherD.C. Public School Teacher

Helen Sprucebank Thatcher, 99, a Chevy Chase resident who taught elementary school in the District from the late 1920s through the 1930s, died Nov. 15 at Suburban Hospital. She had congestive heart failure.

Mrs. Thatcher taught at Hyde and Hayes elementary schools, among others. She then was a homemaker, a member of the Silver Spring Kiwanis Club women's auxiliary and a member of Chevy Chase United Methodist Church in Maryland.

She was a native Washingtonian, a 1925 graduate of Central High School and a 1927 graduate of Wilson Teachers College.

Her husband, Thomas B. Thatcher, whom she married in 1937, died in 1994.

Survivors include two children, Joan Lovato of Colorado Springs and Harry E. Thatcher of Wheaton; nine grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-granddaughter.