Ruth Elizabeth Clark (1925-2021)

CLARK, HINKHOUSE, SWENSON, FORD, RAFFERTY, BUNN

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 8/10/2021 at 10:25:54

Ruth Elizabeth Clark, 96, of Tipton, passed away early Monday morning, Aug. 9, 2021, while under the care of Cedar Manor Nursing Home in Tipton. Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at Fry Funeral Home, Tipton, with Pastor Cynthia Ryssemus officiating. Burial will follow in the Sharon Cemetery, rural Wilton. The family will receive friends from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, prior to the service. A memorial fund has been created in Ruth's memory with proceeds being directed to the Cedar Manor Nursing Home or the Tipton Library.Online condolences may be shared at www.fryfuneralhome.com .

Ruth was born July 4, 1925, in Muscatine, Iowa. She was the daughter of Elmer Dodd Hinkhouse and Freda Swenson Hinkhouse. Ruth attended Sharon Country School and graduated from Wilton High School at age 16 with the Class of 1941. Ruth received her Bachelor's Degree from Parsons College and her Master's Degree from the University of Iowa. Ruth became a school teacher which took her first to Earlham School then to Tama, where she taught her students at the Sac and Fox Settlement School (and this is where she met her future husband, Herbert Clark).

Ruth and Herb moved to Tipton and Ruth taught Junior High Speech and Social Studies in Bennett, a career that lasted 25 years until she retired from Bennett School in 1986. Ruth was very active in Tipton. She served on the Tipton Library Board for 45 years, was a member of the P.E.O. Chapter DY, a member of the Tri Sigmas and was very active in the Tipton United Methodist Church for many years.

Those left to remember and honor her memory are her children, Krista Clark (Danny Ford) of Tipton, Iowa, Maeve Clark of Iowa City, Iowa, Arthur (Debbie) Clark of Sugarland, Texas, Brian Clark (Trish Rafferty) of Middleton, Wis., and Stuart (Sharon) Clark of Tipton, Iowa; and grandchildren, Mathew Clark of Olympia, Wash., and Madelyn and Anders Clark of Middleton, Wis., Caitlyn Clark of Sugarland, Texas, Erin Clark (Robert Bunn) and their children, Eliza and Isla Bunn of Ireland, and Eric (Kim) Clark, and their son, Callum of Lake Mills, Wis.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Herb Clark; and her brother, John Hinkhouse.