Ruth W. Sauter

On March 26, 2026, Ruth W. Sauter, the devoted wife of the late Bill Sauter, began her new life with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She was born January 12, 1933 in Brooklyn New York to Marie E. and the Reverend Frederick Wirth, the middle child of 3 girls. She was raised in an Italian and Jewish tenement neighborhood, her childhood friends were Jewish, and there grew her love of the Old Testament and the Jewish people as well as growing in her faith at the Presbyterian church where her father was Pastor. It is also where her love of music started, and then became her calling to make music for the glory of God.

She graduated from Beaver College, now Arcadia University, and then went on to earn a Master’s Degree later in life. She taught at Central Bucks East where she shared her love of music and Middle East studies. She was a favorite teacher to many students, and numerous ones kept in touch with her until her death. Somehow during this time, amid raising four sons, she also helped to temporarily direct the newly formed Bucks County Choral Society. After retiring from teaching, she was the Director of Music at Doylestown Presbyterian Church and oversaw the expansion of the performing arts and music departments, which included the addition of the visual arts display and found great joy in discovering different artists and mediums. She helped the music ministry grow to more than 425 musicians and singers by 1998. After Bill’s death in 2002, she moved to Wesley Enhanced Living where she decided they needed music also, and started a choir and a bell choir. She was instrumental in helping to get funding for the piano there and held numerous concerts with the residents. She was always trying to serve in any way she could.

Ruth touched many others in her life in countless ways, and though she was a “force to be reckoned with” pretty much all the time, she would always lend an ear or shoulder to anyone in need.

She is survived by her children and their spouses: David & Linda Sauter, Ethan Sauter, Paul Sauter;beloved grandson John Sauter; sister Margaret and brother-in law Richard Diemer; prayer partners: Judy Baker and Janet Landis, and various nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband, she was predeceased in death by her son, Stephen.

A service celebrating Ruth’s life will be held at 10:00 AM on Monday, May 4, 2026, Doylestown Presbyterian Church, 127 E. Court Street, Doylestown, PA, where relatives and friends will be received after the service. Interment will be private.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Heifer International Foundation, 1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202 https://www.heifer.org/give

Doylestown Presbyterian Church, 127 Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901 https://www.dtownpc.org/give-today/give-now/

Wesley Enhanced Living Benevolent Fund, Attn. Corporate Office, 626 Jacksonville Road Suite 200, Warminster, PA 18974 https://www.wel.org/about-us/foundation/

“If I could help somebody as I pass along 

 If I could cheer somebody with a word of song

 If I could show somebody when he’s traveling wrong 

Then my living shall not be in vain “ 

Martin Luther King