Smith, Ruth M. 1910 - 1994

SMITH, LEACH, MILLER

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 5/25/2013 at 00:20:00

Ruth M. Smith, 84, of Clear Lake, died Sunday, July 10, 1994, at North Iowa
Mercy Health Centers east campus.

Funeral services will be held today (Wednesday), July 13, at 2 p.m. at the
Clear Lake United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Fred Lewis officiating. She
will be cremated and interment will be in the Clear Lake Cemetery at a later
time. The family suggests memorials to the United Methodist Church or the
Parkinsons Foundation.

She was born April 9, 1910 in Clear Lake, the daughter of Nathaniel Brown
Miller and Hattie Amelia Leach Miller. She grew up in Emory, Iowa, and
attended Mason City High School. She graduated from Hamilton Business College
and worked for the W.L. Patton Insurance Company in Mason City for 11 years.

On Oct. 6, 1935 she married R. Max Smith in Mason City, Iowa. The couple lived
in Mason City until March 1, 1945 when they moved to Clear Lake.

Ruth was a dearly loved and treasured wife, mother, grandmother, aunt and
friend. She took up sculpting at the age of 60 and became known as "The
Grandma Moses of the Clay Pits." Ruth touched the lives of many people with
her kindness, gentleness, humor and with her sculptures, the majority of which
were biblical characters. Her busts of Mary, Joseph and the Christ Child,
along with John Wesley, reside in the Clear Lake United Methodist Church where
Ruth was a member.

She is survived by her husband, Max, of Clear Lake; three children, Jane
Arevalo and her husband, Bob of Leavenworth, Kan., Pete Smith and his wife,
Retta, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., and Judy Smith, of Seattle, Wash.; six
grandchildren, Alan Arevalo, Robin Arevalo Cradic, Zachary Smith, Josh Smith,
Corey Smith and Seth Smith; and two great-grandchildren, Stephen Cradic and
Emily Cradic.

She was preceded in death by her parents; and two brothers, Merle Miller and
Harold Miller.