McGAHUEY, Muriel "Ruth" (PETT)
BAMFORD, PETT, MCGAHUEY, SMITH, CUMPSTON, PAYTON, FORD, STEPHENS, SAXTON, COUCHMAN, FRY, STONE, BROWN, MOETSCH, SCHMIDT, DYKES, SHANNON, ROVANE, MEDEARIS, KEFALOGIANNI
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/1/2017 at 08:12:13
Obituary ~ Muriel "Ruth" (Pett) McGahuey
December 01, 1928 - December 25, 2016Muriel Ruth McGahuey, age 88, of Leon, Iowa, the daughter of Robert Ellis and Ollie Almeda (Bamford) Pett, was born December 1, 1928, at Woodbine, Iowa in Crawford County. She died at Westview Acres Care Center in Leon, Iowa on Sunday, December 25, 2016.
Ruth lived in Crawford County, Iowa until the family moved. She attended school in Jefferson, Iowa and graduated in 1946, from Osceola High School in Osceola, Iowa. She went on to school to become a rural schoolteacher.
She married her classmate and high school sweetheart, Donald Lee McGahuey, on May 24, 1949, in Chariton, Iowa at the R.L.D.S. Church. They started their married life together on a farm south of Osceola where Don farmed and Ruth taught school at Weldon and Grand River. They were blessed with three children, Marcia, Marilyn, and David, whom she loved to teach all kinds of things, including music. She also taught Bible School and Sunday school at her church.
In November of 1957, Don and Ruth bought the John Deere dealership in Leon. In 1960, Don convinced Ruth to give up teaching and help him at the store. She did the bookwork for close to the next fifty years. When she wasn’t working, Ruth enjoyed spending time with the grandkids. She loved taking them all on shopping trips. She was a member of the Decatur Restoration Branch of the R.L.D.S. Church. She also was in PTA, and was a Cub Scout den mother, Girl Scout leader, music booster, and an AFS mother.
Don and Ruth shared many fond memories of their travels on incentive trips, as well as the ones they took just for fun. After Don’s death, Ruth moved into Westview Acres in Leon.
Preceding her in death were her parents; husband, Don, on April 12, 2016; siblings and spouses, Kenneth Pett and Wildon and Frances Smith and James; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Rita and Eldon Cumpston, Maxine and Jim Payton, and Darlene and Robert Ford. Survivors include her children, Marcia and Joe Stephens of Leon, Marilyn Saxton and Alan Couchman of Allerton, Iowa, and David McGahuey and fiancé, Brenda Fry of Leon; nine grandchildren, Jake & Deanna Stone, MariAnne & Kevin Brown, Sara & Ben Moetsch, Amy & Sean Schmidt, Sean & Beth Saxton, Erin & Tony Dykes, Tamara & Mark Shannon, Lis Rovane, and Lacey Medearis; 13 great grandchildren; Greek daughter, Maria Kefalogianni Kourea, her husband, Potis, and their daughter, Katerina; brother, LaVerne Pett and wife, Mary of Osceola, Iowa; nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.
Funeral services will be held at the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon, Iowa at 10 a.m. Thursday, December 29, 2016. Burial will be in the Decatur Cemetery, Decatur, Iowa.
A memorial has been established by the Family.
Slade - O'Donnel Funeral Home of Leon and Lamoni is in charge of arrangements.
SOURCE: sladefuneralhome.com/obituaries/Ruth-McGahuey?obId=1260347#/obituaryInfo
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2016
Decatur Obituaries maintained by Constance McDaniel Hall.
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