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Price, Ruth (Krumm) 1916 - 2021

PRICE, KRUMM, SLACK, NASH, SCHIESS, HOELSCHER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 9/4/2021 at 12:02:01

Ruth Price, age 105, of Waverly, Iowa, well-known teacher at Decorah Junior High School from 1960-1980, died Friday, August 27, 2021, at her son’s home in Waverly.

Memorial Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 25, 2021, at Burr Oak United Methodist Church in Burr Oak, Iowa with Pastor Karen Carlton officiating. Inurnment will be in the Burr Oak Cemetery.

Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, one hour before services, at the Church.

Ruth was born on March 19, 1916, on a farm south of Burr Oak, the fourth child of Louis G. Krumm and Alice (Slack) Krumm. After completing her primary education in the Burr Oak #8 "Lost Nation" school she entered Burr Oak High School when it first opened its doors in the fall of 1929. After one year at Burr Oak, she transferred to Decorah High School where she graduated as salutatorian of the class of 1933, her friend Esther Stephens (later Esther Miller) graduating as valedictorian.

In 1933 Ruth enrolled at the Decorah College for Women, the first year the student body was allowed to hold classes on the Luther College campus. After one year at Luther, she spent her summers studying at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls (now University of Northern Iowa), graduating with a B.A. in elementary education in 1940. While at ISTC she was elected to the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education, played violin in the ISTC orchestra, and sang in the chapel choir. Upon graduation she was awarded ISTC's Purple and Old Gold Award in Elementary Education. In later years Ruth did graduate work at several universities but never finished her M.A.

Ruth began her teaching career at the age of 18 at the Rollins School, Burr Oak #1, from 1934-1936. In 1937 she began teaching in Allison, Iowa, and from 1940-1942 in Cherokee, Iowa. In April 1942 she accepted a teaching position in Hammond, Indiana, where she continued until her marriage in 1945.

Ruth married Daniel Arthur ("Art") Price at the Burr Oak Methodist Church on November 24, 1945. Ruth and Art had begun double-dating with their friends Arlin Falck and Maxine Cassell in 1941, but romance was interrupted by World War 2 and Art's induction into the Army in January 1942. After nearly four years of separation, Art received his discharge from military service in November 1945, and the couple was married two weeks after his stateside return.

After marriage Art and Ruth made their home on the L. G. Krumm farm just south of Burr Oak where Art farmed for the next forty-nine years. This marriage was blessed with two sons, Daniel R. and William.

Ruth had a strong interest in public education. She served as secretary for the Burr Oak #8 rural school, and from 1953-1959 she was a member of the Winneshiek County Board of Education. During the late 1950's a bitter controversy erupted over the organization of a high school in north Winneshiek County, a controversy that divided the local community. Ruth was one of the few farsighted individuals who strongly opposed the plan, maintaining that a high school in north Winneshiek would not be sustainable in the long run. As a result of her opposition, she was voted off the school board.

After her departure from the school board Ruth renewed her teacher's certificate, and in the fall of 1959, she accepted a teaching position at St. Benedict's in Decorah. A few weeks later, upon the recommendation of her lifelong friend Esther Miller, she was offered a permanent full-time position at the Decorah Junior High School. Here Ruth taught English, remedial reading, and orchestra, until her retirement in 1980. Ruth is also credited with beginning the string instrument program in the Decorah schools during the early 1960's.

Ruth had a great love for music in general, and violin in particular. She began learning the violin at the age of eleven when her father purchased a violin from a neighbor, making payment with a hog and nine piglets. Whenever asked what her violin was worth, Ruth would joke, "That depends on the hog market!" Ruth kept this same instrument for the rest of her life, playing in the ISTC orchestra, the Gary Indiana Symphony Orchestra, as well as performing in the Luther College Messiah Orchestra for many years under the direction of Weston Noble.

Ruth served on the Burr Oak Cemetery Association for eighteen years and was active in the Winneshiek County Historical Association. She was a member of the Methodist Church of Burr Oak where she served as Sunday School teacher, choir director, organist, and UMW president and historian. Ruth was also a member of Joan of Arc, Travel Club, WCARSPA (retired school personnel), and a past member of ISEA, NEA, and Luther College Women's Club.

Ruth was a popular teacher in Decorah Junior High School and is fondly remembered by her students, not only from the Decorah area, but from her former schools as well. One of her very first students from the Rollins School paid her regular visits from the state of Oregon, making the long drive out to Iowa even when well into his 90's.

In the fall of 1994 Ruth and Art sold the family farm near Burr Oak and moved into a new home in north Decorah where they enjoyed many happy years together with their new neighbors. Art passed away in 2010, and Ruth continued living alone in Decorah until age-related issues necessitated her moving to Waverly, Iowa, to be near her son Dan and family.

Ruth was a great-granddaughter of Winneshiek County's second settler Gottlob Krumm, a German immigrant who arrived at Fort Atkinson in June 1848. Ruth was the last Krumm descendant still living in the county before moving to Waverly late in 2017.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband Art on May 16, 2010; her parents Louis and Alice Krumm (who lived to age 108); parents-in-law Henry and Lottie Price; her sister Louise Nash and husband Bernard; brothers Kenneth Krumm and wife Emily, and Roger Krumm and wife Carmen; brother-in-law Dean Price and his wife Iona; a sister Helen in infancy; and a granddaughter Alison Price.

Ruth is survived by sons Daniel Price (Amy) of Waverly, Iowa, and William Price (Cindy) of Mission Viejo, California; grandchildren Steven Price (Toni), Corey Price, Darcy Schiess (Ben), Becca Hoelscher (Brian), Nicole Price; and nine great-grandchildren.

Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database

Burr Oak Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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