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Ruth Best Shafer (2003)

BEST, KOETHE, NAGEL, SATTERLEE, SHAFER, WELCHMAN

Posted By: Treva Patterson
Date: 1/14/2007 at 15:07:01

Winterset Madisonian
Winterset, Iowa
Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Ruth Shafer, Winterset

Ruth Evelyn Shafer, 82, died April 22, 2003, of pneumonia and multiple organ system failure at West Bridge Care & Rehabilitation in Winterset.

Funeral services were held Saturday, April 26, at Grace Baptist Church in Winterset with Pastors Alex Bauman and Melvin Mattox officiating. Burial was at Winterset Cemetery.

Ruth Shafer was born March 16, 1921 in Keokuk to Ernest and Viola Odelia (Nagel) Best. She received her early education in Ottumwa. She also received a degree in civil engineering from Iowa State University in Ames, the second woman to do this. She worked in Chicago during World War II designing bridges for the Milwaukee Railroad. She later moved to Des Moines, where she met and married Charles Maxon Shafer on July 27, 1946. They moved to Winterset in 1947, Ruth had worked as a civil engineer with her husband in his construction business. She was a member of Grace Baptist Church in Winterset where she had served as church organist and Sunday school teacher for many years.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Odelia Welchman; and a grandson, Aaron Shafer.

She is survived by her husband, Charles M., of Winterset; three sons, Robert Shafer of Lake Forest, Calif., Peter Shafer of Winterset and John Shafer of Lawrenceville, Ga.; three daughters, Deborah Shafer of Winterset, Lydia Satterlee of Ladora and Sarah Koethe of Waukee; 16 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Grace Baptist Church. Funeral arrangements were handled by Collins Oak Park Chapel in Winterset.

Gravesite
 

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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