FALMOUTH – Camilla “China” Bolitho Ryall passed away on March 5, 2024. She was born to English parents, William Bolitho Ryall and Sybil Matesdorf Ryall in Geneva, Switzerland on Nov. 9, 1928. China lived her earliest years in Paris, and began her education at boarding schools in Switzerland when she was only five-years-old. She returned to her home country of England for primary school and spent many happy years of her young life in Bournemouth. She experienced the bombings of World War II, losing many relatives to the war. When the French Army was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940 (after the British Army), she was called to the English docks to help translate, and she kept an autograph book with signatures of all the soldiers she met. Shortly after, she too was evacuated to the U.S., joining her mother and stepfather, Cen Fearnley, who had relocated to Monterey, California. She traveled alone by ship across the Atlantic and then by train from New York to California. She graduated from Kemper Hall (Wisconsin) in 1944 and attended Stanford University. She made many close friends her first year but longed for more adventure and set out for NYC where she worked as a copy girl.

China met Paul M Robinson Jr. in NYC while working in Democratic Party politics fighting against Tammany Hall. They were married in 1952, and their family moved to Northern Virginia in 1957. She divorced in 1970 and worked full-time in a variety of positions, including several years as a secretary at Woodlawn High School in Arlington, Va. She remarried in 1973, and in 1974, her family moved to East Boothbay, Maine. Always a hard worker, she had several jobs there including serving many hours at Miles Memorial Hospital as a unit clerk and as a feature writer for The Boothbay Register. Her longtime love of books led her to opening a bookstore, Bolitho Books (named in honor of her father), in Boothbay Harbor. Determined to complete her college degree, she attended the University of Maine at Augusta part time and then returned to Stanford University in 1981, employed at the hospital there to pay her way. She graduated in 1985 and relocated back to Northern Virginia. She worked at Georgetown University in the alumni office and the physics department until her retirement.

Always the adventurer, she traveled solo in 2004 to South Africa driving the back roads from Capetown to Grahamstown to do research on genealogy. Her lifelong love of art, books, water, politics, genealogy, travel, and more was evident to all who knew her. In 2017, China returned to Maine to be closer to family. Up until the last day of her life, she was very engaged in the world and people around her. She never lost her love for travel and exploration. She savored stories and enjoyed armchair traveling with family and friends even when she could no longer take the trip herself.

She is survived by her four children, along with eight loving grandchildren and many very dear English cousins. She was predeceased by a half brother, Pierre K. Ryall of Amboise, France.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, July 13 at 1:30 p.m. at The Episcopal Church of Saint Mary in Falmouth.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to St. Jude’s.

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