Ruth Bernice (Clark) DURST

DURST, CLARK, MEIS, OLSON, LORIAUX, CHEVILLE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/8/2012 at 20:56:03

September 20, 1922 --- May 3, 2012

PAULLINA, Iowa - Ruth Bernice Durst, 89, of Grand Island, formerly of Paullina, Iowa, passed away Thursday, May 3, 2012, at Good Samaritan Village in Grand Island. Services were May 7 at First Presbyterian Church in Paullina, Iowa. The Rev. Duane Queen officiated. Burial was in the Prairie View Cemetery in Paullina. Eldridge Family Funeral Home in Paullina, Iowa, was in charge of arrangements.

Ruth Bernice Durst, 89, went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, May 3, 2012. She had been a resident at Good Samaritan Village in Grand Island. Ruth, was born Sept. 20, 1922, near Clarion, Iowa, to Charles Albert and Sadie Clark. Ruth attended a one-room, country school in Lake Township, District 6, northwest of Clarion. The school was the birthplace of the 4-H emblem, back in 1907, when Ruth's parents were schoolchildren attending the school. Ruth was very active in 4-H. Ruth graduated from Clarion High School in 1941 and attended Upper Iowa College in Fayette, receiving her teaching certificate in 1943. She taught kindergarten and first grade at Gaza Consolidated School in Gaza, Iowa. While teaching in Gaza, Ruth met her husband-to-be Derrel Lee Durst. Ruth and Derrel were united in marriage on Dec. 26, 1944, at the United Presbyterian Church in Clarion. The couple farmed for nearly 50 years near Gaza and Paullina.

Ruth was a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Paullina. In earlier years, she was active in various church organizations and activities. She was also a 4-H leader and member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Colonists. Ruth and Derrel enjoyed square dancing and playing cards. At the mention of 500, Ruth was ready to play! She enjoyed reading, gospel music, and jigsaw puzzles. Ruth's green thumb was evident in her large garden, which she spent most of her summers tending and then canning its produce. Five-gallon buckets of beans bushels of tomatoes, gunnysacks of sweet corn, fresh picked strawberries, and homemade rhubarb pies…she fed her family well. She was an excellent cook and a meticulous seamstress. She sewed and embroidered beautiful masterpieces that her family still enjoy and appreciate. In later years, macular degeneration robbed Ruth of her sight. She never complained about her handicaps and, instead found ways to still do some of the things she enjoyed. She showered her family with love and especially treasured the opportunities to be with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Above all, she loved the Lord.

Surviving her are two sons, Randall of Paullina and Ronald (Diane) Northbrook, Ill.; daughter, Lynette (Roger) Meis of Grand Island; nine grandchildren, Brent (Leigh) Durst of Santa Cruz, Calif., Darin (Paula) Durst of Lafayette, Ind, Kristen (Brian) Olson of Madison, Wis., Shane (Prairie) Meis of Geneseo, Ill., Michael (Jennifer) Durst of Northbrook, Shannon (Ryan) Loriaux of Lincoln, Eric Durst of Madison, Brian (Meghan) Durst of Menomonee Falls, Wis., and Leah Durst of Madison; nine great-grandchildren, Michelle, Joshua, Connor, Mason, Katie and Eloise Durst, Nicholas and Isabel Loriaux, and Catalina Meis; one sister, Beth (Norm) Cheville of Ames, Iowa; three sisters-in-law, LaRue Clark of Ames, Ruth Durst of Spirit Lake, Iowa and Beverly Durst of Gaza and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Derrel on March 28, 1994; her parents and brothers, Charles Albert "Junior" and Martin H. Clark.

The Grand Island Independent - Nebraska
May 8, 2012