XENIA — Ruth Nester was an artist with many different interests. She enjoyed reading, gardening and watching the birds in the yard of her modest Xenia home. Born in Cincinnati she was a part time student at the Cincinnati Art Academy at the age of 6. Upon high school graduation, she was awarded a scholarship to the Academy. She did some oil painting, but for many years worked with pastels. In 1973, she was commissioned to do an oil painting for a friend and from that; she did the portraits of Governor Richard Celeste and several justices of the Unite States Supreme Court,