New Discovery: Ruth Gorrell is Ruth Gray
My thanks to Carol DeMasters for helping me to solve a food journalism mystery.
As I had suspected, food editor Ruth Gorrell was also Ruth Gray. I could not find a wedding announcement and there was no reference to a maiden name in Ruth Gray’s obituary.
Ruth Gorrell earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Kansas State University. She was the food editor at the Detroit Times in the early 1950s and later at the St. Petersburg Times. Her recipes are included in the 1952 Coast to Coast cookbook and she attended the annual food editors meetings.
As Ruth Gray, she began reviewing restaurants in 1974. One restaurant that earned a negative review from her named its crab sandwich in her honor. When she was investigating a restaurant, Gray wore hats and scarves and ducked inside the ladies room to take notes and remain inconspicuous. The disguises were needed because some restaurants posted her photo on the wall in the kitchen—a common practice because restaurant owners looked to identify critics.
