Ardith McMillin Wood

Ardith McMillin Wood passed away on May 31st, 2025 in Tucson, AZ. Ardith (née Betsy Ardith) was born on November 19, 1943 in Providence, RI. She was the daughter of Frank McMillin and Dorothy Rouse McMillin, originally of Pocatello, Idaho. Ardith and her sister grew up in Warwick Neck, Rhode Island. She attended Warwick Veterans Memorial High School (Class of 1961) and went on to attend Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts (Class of 1965).

After graduation, Ardith moved to New York, where she worked in various places, like PepsiCo and Glamour Magazine. There, she met her husband, Jonathan Wells Wood, who had a career in banking. They were married in 1968 and lived in Manhattan. Ardith recalled with fondness her time living in New York, and the activities and places she enjoyed there were foundational for the rest of her life: art, theater, libraries, outdoor spaces. Ardith and Jonathan moved out of the city to Purdys, NY and then Goldens Bridge, NY where they raised their two children, Amy and Andrew.

In 1979, Jonathan died of a brain tumor, and Ardith cared for her children as a single mother. She worked in administrative positions at Four Winds Hospital in Katonah, NY and at Christopher Moomaw, Architect in Ridgefield, CT. She volunteered at the Katonah Gallery (now the Katonah Museum of Art) and Caramoor (now Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts). She married James Chamberlain in 1981, and they were divorced in 1985.

In 1992, after both children had graduated from high school, Ardith moved to Stockbridge, MA, where she lived in a historic carriage house across the street from The Red Lion Inn. Calling on her love of gardens and flowers, she found employment at Berkshire Botanical Garden where she was involved in planning special events. Ardith loved the community of friends she had in Stockbridge, and she would tell stories about attending concerts at Tanglewood in Lenox, visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum, walking the grounds at Naumkeg, shopping in Great Barrington.

In 1996, she moved back to her home state of Rhode Island to help care for her parents. She lived in two rented carriage houses in Newport, and then built a home in the Plum Beach community in Saunderstown, RI; a location that held special significance, as she had rented the house next door for many summers when Amy and Andrew were young. She designed and had built a beautiful house and garden that overlooked Narragansett Bay and the Jamestown Bridge. From her porch and patio, she loved seeing the cows grazing at Watson Farm on Jamestown.

Ardith reconnected with old friends from high school, made new ones, and created a life for herself surrounded by water. She worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in Narragansett, RI, while also discovering ways to be active in the community. She volunteered for organizations that she cared about: the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport and the Wickford Art Festival, to name a few. She was proud of her volunteer work for the Friends of Plum Beach Lighthouse, which raised funds for restoring and relighting the lighthouse in 2003. She devoted energy to the South Kingstown Land Trust, because her passions aligned with their mission to protect natural resources, open spaces, and cultural landscapes.

In 2004, she met Ken Hart while playing tennis, and they were in a relationship until he died in 2014. Together, they enjoyed cooking, dining at local restaurants, attending theater performances in Connecticut, playing mixed doubles tennis, and spending part of the winter in Vero Beach, Florida.

After being diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus in 2012, Ardith underwent brain surgery. Likely due to that condition, she later experienced cognitive decline, and in 2017 her children moved her to be near her daughter in Tucson, AZ. She lived at Hacienda at the River, a memory care facility with wonderful caregivers who enjoyed her straight-forward demeanor and sense of humor.

Ardith was a designer at heart, and she excelled in gardening, creating floral arrangements and beautiful spaces. Her interests in art, service and the natural world were passed to her children, who always admired their mother’s creativity, pursuit of beauty, and her sense of style.

Ardith is predeceased by her husband Jonathan Wood; her parents Frank and Dorothy McMillin; and her sister Judith Nixon. Ardith is survived by her children, Amy and Andrew; her grandson, Jonathan Wood Barbieri; her sister and brother-in-law Cynthia and Dharam Malik; and nieces and nephews.

Donations may be made in Ardith Wood’s name to the South Kingston Land Trust on their giving page at https://sklt.org/supportsklt/donations/ .

A memorial reception will be held on June 28, 2025, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM at

the Gary Coale Reception Hall at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, RI.