Naomi Campbell, age 92, passed away on Wednesday, November 27, 2019. Daughter of Martha and Emil Ruppenthal, she was born in Buffalo, New York. She enjoyed a happy childhood with seven siblings and musical parents who encouraged them all to sing or play an instrument.
She graduated from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan with a B. A. in chemistry in 1948 and from Northwestern University Medical School with an M. S. degree in biochemistry in 1951. While working in analytical research at the Dupont Company in Niagara Falls, NY she met her future husband, Hugh Campbell. They married in 1957 and moved to Wilmington the following year. She chose not to continue working, and instead to raise her family of two sons, Howard and Douglas. She also continued to study music, which she had begun in high school and continued through most of her life, studying voice and singing in church choirs and in local oratorio and opera groups. Her music proved to be useful in connecting with similar groups and making friends during her husband’s transfers to Germany and Japan.
The transfers presented challenges, but also many opportunities. She lived in Bad Homburg, West Germany for four years near Frankfurt with its many cultural opportunities. She was also near her German relatives, making for frequent weekend visits in both directions and in both languages. The five years she spent in Tokyo were probably the most challenging and rewarding. She found a Japanese language teacher and a Japanese voice teacher who involved her in many recital opportunities. She enjoyed studying Japanese arts such as Ikebana, the art of flower arranging, which she continued to practice after moving home. She was also able to explore Japan and many of the other countries of the Far East while living there.
She and her husband returned to Wilmington in 1984 where she resumed her job as alto soloist at First and Central Church and participation in the Delaware Valley Chorale. She enjoyed renewing old friendships, making new ones, and traveling at a more leisurely pace. In 1993 they joined Westminster Presbyterian Church where Naomi worked on the Visitation Committee and the Bazaar. In 2015 they moved to Maris Grove, a retirement community in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.
Naomi is survived by her devoted husband of 62 years and her sons Howard and Douglas. She was preceded in death by her brothers and sisters Jacob, Emil, Gladys, Ruth, Howard, Arline, and Shirley.
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