Ruth M. Kruger, 95

Funeral services for Ruth M. Kruger, 95, of Hooper, were held Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 at St. Paul Lutheran Church north of Arlington. The Revs. Rick Kanoy and Phillip Vance officiated. Interment was in St. Paul’s Cemetery. Mrs. Kruger died Wednesday, Oct. 22 at the Hooper Care Center.

Ruth M. Kruger was born July 12, 1908, in Altamont, Ill., to Theodore and Amalia (Jung) Deffner. She grew up in Bethlehem, Ill. and, at the age of 10, moved with her family to Lincoln, where he father taught at Immanuel Lutheran School.

She was employed at Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co. from 1919 to 1934. She met her husband, the Rev. Obert W.F. Kruger, while working as a telephone operator. The couple married Sept. 1, 1934, at Brookfield, Ill.

The Krugers lived in Davenport, Iowa, from 1934 to 1940, where her husband served as the pastor of a congregation. They moved to Winfield, Kan., where Rev. Kruger served for more than 40 years in a variety of capacities on the faculty of St. John’s College in Winfield. The couple lived at Winfield for 54 years before moving to Fremont in 1994. Mrs. Kruger had been living at the Hooper Care Center since 1996.

She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fremont, and was a former member of Trinity Lutheran Church at Winfield, Kan.

She is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Ralph and June Kruger of Kimberling City, Mo., and Rev. Roger and Marilyn Kruger of Omaha; three daughters and sons-in-law, Anita and the Rev Dennis Schlecht of Wheaton, Ill., Mildred and the Rev. Robert Fickenscher of Auburn, Calif., and Sylvia and Robert Storck of Denver, Colo.; 21 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Obert, in 1998; and 11 brothers and sisters.

Memorials are suggested to Trinity Lutheran Church at Winfield.

Moser Memorial Chapel in Fremont 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.~~~

FindaGrave # 8039246