Eureka - Ruth I. Grenz,
age 84 of Eureka, S.D., died on Thursday, July 27, 2006, at
Avera Eureka Health Care Center. Funeral services will be at
10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2006, at the Eureka United
Methodist Church. Burial will follow in the Artas City
Cemetery at Artas, S.D. Visitation will be on Monday, July
31, from 5 to 7 p.m. with a 7 p.m. prayer service at the
Carlsen Funeral Home in Eureka. There will also be
visitation for one hour prior to service time at the church
on Tuesday.
Ruth Grenz was the 10th of 11 children born to
Christian and Margaret (Scherbenske) Grenz on May 26, 1922,
on the family farm in Campbell County, rural Artas. This is
where she grew up and attended a country school,
Hoffnungsfeldt School District No. 11, for her grade school
education. She attended Eureka High School, graduating in
1941. After her graduation, she attended Capital Commercial
College in Bismarck, N.D.
Ruth was saved on Oct. 25, 1939, at the Artas
Evangelical Church, which the Grenz family attended. She
later became a member of the Artas United Methodist Church
where she taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and
was Sunday School treasurer. When the church closed at Artas,
she transferred her membership to the Eureka United
Methodist Church.
As a teenager you would see her in her spare time
sitting with pencil in hand, doing freehand drawings. Later,
she took some oil painting lessons. She also enjoyed doing
fancy work. She went traveling, and took numerous tours, the
highlight of which was her trip to the Holy Land, to walk
where Jesus had walked.
Her first place of employment was at the Campbell
County Auditor's Office in Mound City where she was Deputy
County Auditor. A shortage of teachers found her teaching at
rural school, finishing another teacher's term. While
vacationing in Lodi, Calif., in 1946, she accepted temporary
employment at Super Mold Corporation as a typist. Coming
home to South Dakota, she was employed as Price Support
Clerk at the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation office
in Mound City for over seven years. In 1961, she accepted
employment at Valley Telco Cooperative Association Inc. at
Herreid, S.D., as a cashier-receptionist, holding this
position for 25 years before her retirement in 1986.
Ruth was a volunteer for the Campbell County Cancer
Society for 16 years. After her retirement, she lived in
Artas, S.D., until May 1992 when she moved to the Sunrise
Apartments in Eureka, and in July 1995 entered the Avera
Eureka Health Care Center where she enjoyed various
activities.
Left to cherish her memory are her sister: Irene
(Wallace) Kusler of Artas, S.D.; her brother-in-law, Arthur
W. Rohrbach of Hosmer, S.D.; numerous nieces and nephews;
other relatives and friends. Ruth was preceded in death by
her parents; two brothers, Samuel and John in infancy; three
brothers and sisters-in-law, Ernest (Ella) Grenz, George
(Tillie) Grenz and Milbert (Frieda) Grenz; four sisters and
three brothers-in-law, Martha (Arthur E.) Knoepfle, Bertha
(Edmund) Hulse, Edna Rohrbach and Esther E. (Herbert)
Rohrbach.
The Carlsen Funeral Home of Eureka is in charge of
arrangements. Memorials may be directed to the American
Cancer Society and American Parkinson's Disease Association.
Published in the Aberdeen News on 7/30/2006.
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