ALEXANDER, Ruth Helen (BAKER)

BAKER, ALEXANDER, HONN, WOLLENZIEN, HEILSKOV

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/23/2015 at 08:34:00

Obituary ~ Ruth Helen (Baker) Alexander
November 16, 1910 ~ May 05, 2003

Former Osceola resident Ruth H. Alexander, 92, died May 5, 2003, at the Good Samaritan Center in Manson. Funeral services were May 8 at Larson-Weishaar Funeral Home in Manson with the Rev. Curt Kuhns officiating. Burial was in Maple Hill Cemetery at Osceola.

Ruth Helen Alexander, daughter of Joseph Woodward Baker and Melissa Honn Baker, was born Nov. 16, 1910, in rural Leon. Her father died in a pitchfork accident when she was a young girl leaving the raising of seven children to her mother.

She attended Leon High School through 10th grade before starting work at a local cafe.

She married Wayne Kenneth “Joe” Alexander at Memphis, Mo. on July 13, 1935. The couple became the parents of two daughters, Janet Alice and Norene Ann.

Mr. Alexander drove a gravel truck for Sergeant’s Rock Quarry, became a foreman and then manager.

Mrs. Alexander, who lived in Osceola from 1950 to 1986, was a homemaker and enjoyed sewing, crocheting and gardening. She always had a large strawberry patch.

After her husband died, Mrs. Alexander worked for Look magazine in Des Moines for many years. She moved to Manson Golden Meadows in 1986 before she became a resident of Good Samaritan Center in December 1999. She will be remembered for her sweet smile and love of reciting verses and poems.

She was preceded in death by her parents; six siblings; husband in 1960; grandson, Jody in 1985; and daughter Janet in 1997.

In addition to her daughter, Norene Wollenzien and her husband, David Wollenzien; she is survived by three grandchildren, Sarah Heilskov of Coralville, Andy Wollenzien of Los Angeles, Calif. and Ben Wollenzien of Miami, Fla.; a great-granddaughter and other relatives and friends.

SOURCE: genealogybuff.com

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2015