Ruth Rinderspacher

RINDERSPACHER, LAFOLLETTE, WILLIAMS, WOLFE, GOODNER, HALE, MASON, PEARCY, CHALMERS, CHRISTIAN, PAQUETTE, TREMBERTH, WHITE

Posted By: Tara (email)
Date: 7/3/2009 at 10:19:07

Ruth Rinderspacher, 85, of Osceola died Friday, May 26, 2006, at her son’s home in Iowa City from complications of a stroke.

Ruth Marie LaFollette was born September 27, 1920, at her grandparents’ farm house in rural Clarke County near Weldon, Iowa, to Glen Alpha and Marie Pauline (Williams) LaFollette. She spent her early years in the Weldon area and then moved with her parents and brother to Detroit, MI. Following the death of her mother, she stayed with relatives in Iowa for a time and always spent her summers in Iowa with her beloved grandparents. She graduated from Hazel Park High School in Hazel Park, MI in 1939. She married Emil “ Rindy” Rinderspacher, her high school sweetheart on September 30, 1939 in Hazel Park. They came to Osceola on their honeymoon to visit her grandmother and decided to stay and make Osceola their home.

Rindy and Ruth were in the grocery business for 35 years. They opened the Gold Star Market in 1940 and Rindy’s Super Valu in 1960. Ruth worked full-time in the store while raising her family. Her specialty was the produce department but she worked in all aspects of store operation. After they sold the store, Ruth worked in the Women’s Department of Robinson’s department store.

Ruth was active in the life of her church, her community, and her family. She was a member of the First Christian Church and PEO. She was a great cook, enjoyed reading, loved spending time with her family and friends and was a diehard Hawkeye fan. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and a trusted friend. She easily made friends with people of all ages. She was an avid correspondent. In addition to her nuclear family, a large network of extended family and friends regularly received notes, letters, and cards written in her beautiful hand. She loved being a grandmother and wrote in her journal, “I enjoyed everything about being a grandmother. When we get tired and they get spoiled, we go home and be lonesome!”

Ruth and Rindy were partners in every aspect of their life together and were married 65 years before his death in July of 2005. They rejoiced together in family and friends cultivated by a lifelong openness to others and unfailing courtesy and kindness.

She is survived by a daughter, Marie Wolfe of Council Bluffs; two sons, Emil and wife Susan Goodner of Iowa City, and Edward and wife Kelli of West Branch; five grandchildren, Douglas Wolfe of Council Bluffs, Donelle and husband Leigh Hale of Independence, MO, Mary Rinderspacher, David Goodner, Joseph Goodner of Iowa City; four great-grandchildren, Alex Wolfe of Omaha, NE, Vicktoria, Cristopher, and Mitchell Hale of Independence, MO; two special cousins, Kathryn Mason and Charles Pearcy of Weldon; four sisters-in-law, Helen Rinderspacher and Betty Chalmers of Royal Oak, MI: Beverly Christian of Hazel Park, MI; Dorothy (George) Rinderspacher of Scottsdale, AZ and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Emil; her mother and father; her brother, Clarence Williams LaFollette; step mother, Anna (White) Lafollette; and a step sister, Patricia Anne (Tremberth) Paquette.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Osceola Public Library at 300 S. Fillmore, Osceola, IA 50213 or Hospice of Iowa City at 1025 Wade Street, Iowa City, IA 52240.