Helen Ruff McDonald (1903-1944)

MCDONALD, RUFF, WURSTER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 3/19/2009 at 00:09:32

Maquoketa Community Press
September 14, 1944

Services Held Tuesday For Mrs. McDonald

Funeral services for Mrs. Dudley McDonald, 40, who died at 7 a.m. Saturday morning, were held in the Carson and Balster funeral home at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Rev. H. D. Green, pastor of the First Methodist church officiated. Burial was made in Mt. Hope cemetery.

Helen Phoebe Ruff, daughter of Bert and Cora Ruff, was born near Delmar, on Nov. 22, 1903. The family soon moved to Esgate and it was here that Helen attended school, later graduating from the Maquoketa High school in 1923.

In the fall of 1923, she was united in marriage to Dudley McDonald, and the home was made on the McDonald farm northwest of Maquoketa, where the family resided until this spring when the new home was purchased south of town.

Surviving her untimely passing are her husband; two sons, Neale Eugene and Jackie Ruff; and daughter, Lovell Lee, just six days old, today; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Ruff; and one sister, Mrs. Madge Wurster.

Mrs. McDonald was a member of many clubs and organizations in this community. She belonged to the Philathea class of the Methodist church, the Mother’s club, Tuesday club, the Community Guild, and was a leader in the Farm Bureau. She was an accomplished pianist and gave freely of her talent at many social functions.

In paying tribute to Mrs. McDonald, the Rev. Green spoke these words: “We seriously wonder if any woman in the community had a rarer gift for making and keeping friends than had Helen McDonald. Her smile was a part of her life, and rarely did one see her without its radiance making all around feel better. Her going will be a great loss to so many, but to none more than her dear husband and sons and little daughter, and to her sister, Madge Wurster, and the parents and other relatives and the many friends and the many friends who feel this loss so keenly.”