Ruth J. Fredericks, 79

Ruth J. Fredericks, 79, of Oakland, died Thursday, March 27, 2003, at the St. Francis Memorial Hospital in West Point.

Funeral services were Monday, March 31, at the First United Methodist Church in Oakland. Interment was in the Westside Cemetery, rural Oakland.

Ruth Joanne Fredericks was born Nov. 11, 1923, in Omaha to Henry and Helen Neef.

She was raised in Omaha and graduated from Omaha North High School in 1941. She attended Omaha University for two years and graduated from Lindenwood College for Women in St. Charles, Mo., in 1945 with a bachelor of science degree with a major in psychology and business. She then worked for several years with her father at the Gate City Ironworks in Omaha. She was a Princess in the Ak-Sar-Ben Coronation in 1948.

On May 7, 1949, she married Jack Fredericks at the Miller Park Presbyterian Church in Omaha. The couple lived in Moorhead, Minn., for two years before moving to Oakland, where they purchased the Ben Franklin store. Mrs. Fredericks assisted her husband in running the business and keeping the books. They sold the store and retired in 1972, they enjoyed traveling and their winter home in San Jacinto, Calif.

Mrs. Fredericks was a member of Chi Omega sorority, was a 50-year member of Owaissa Chapter 296, Order of Eastern Star, a 50-year member of First United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women and Chapter El, P.E.O. She served the church in various positions throughout the years and she enjoyed singing in the choir. The couple were former members of the Oakland Golf Club and the Soboba Springs Country Club in San Jacinto. Mrs. Fredericks enjoyed golf, pinochle, the stock market, roses and Husker football.

The last several years of her life were spent at Oakland Heights Nursing Home in Oakland where she was president of the Residents Council. She participated in many activities, but particularly enjoyed choir practice. She was always ready to share her “Thought for the Day” each morning and she was one of the first to greet each new resident.

Mrs. Fredericks and her daughter, Laura, shared a very special relationship. Mrs. Fredericks especially enjoyed her daughter’s weekly visits, daily phone calls and their many excursions home, out to lunch, for a ride, or just the day visiting with her daughter. Her daughter tried to keep her mother’s life as normal as possible through her many health problems. Mrs. Fredericks enjoyed hosting friends and family in her home.

Her strong Christian faith, strength of character, gentle manner, and ladylike demeanor were admired by all. Her generous spirit lives on through the many benefactors of her charity. She left this world and entered eternity the way she lived, in control, humble, with dignity, grace and integrity.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Laura and Roger Saf of Lincoln; brothers and sisters-in-law, Henry and Marilyn Neef of Blair, Bill and Lois Neef and sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Clark Carnaby, all of Tarpon Springs, Fla., sister-in-law, Mary Parton of Matthews, N.C.; one cousin, several nieces and nephews, and a host of friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband Jack, and brother-in-law, Clyde Parton.

Memorials are suggested to the Oakland Heights Heritage Fund, 207 S. Engdahl Ave., Oakland, NE, 68045; Friends of Oakland Foundation, c/o First National Bank NE, Oakland, NE; St. Francis Memorial Hospital Foundation, 430 S. Monitor St., West Point, NE 68788, or The Omaha Home for Boys, 4343 N. 52nd St., Omaha, NE 68104.

Palmquist-Pelan Funeral Home in Oakland was in charge of arrangements.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~