Ruth Esther (Etter) HOVERSTEN

HOVERSTEN, ETTER, KLARAS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/4/2013 at 21:06:15

December 31, 1916 --- October 5, 2006

A memorial service for Ruth Esther (Etter) Hoversten, 89, Sheridan, Wyo., formerly of Ree Heights, was held Oct. 9, 2006, in Sheridan, Wyo. An informal memorial service will be held Sunday, July 29, 2007, at the G.A.R. Cemetery, Miller, with the Rembold Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

Ruth was the eldest of six children born to Elmer and Marie Etter Dec. 31, 1916, in central Iowa. She was a teenager during the Depression and the Dirty Thirties. Her father called her "Kid" and depended on her as a farmhand. Her mother sold eggs to buy the material for her high-school prom dress. Following graduation from high school she earned a teacher's certificate and taught in a one-room country school. She walked to school early enough to start the fire and warm the building before the students arrived.

She married Ernest Hoversten in 1938 and they began their married life on the farm near Webster City, Iowa. Their older three children, Ted, Joyce (Klaras) and David, were born at home on the farm.

Inspired by evangelical revivalism, they left the farm in the early 1950s to attend Bible Study in the Rio Grande Valley. Their youngest son, Neil, was born while they were in Texas. After returning to Iowa for a few years they moved to the parsonage of Carleton Community Church. After her youngest reached school age, Ruth finished her college degree in education while teaching country school. She then taught and served as elementary principal in Ree Heights until her retirement. When her husband Ernie died in 1982, she returned to the Rio Grande Valley to serve in the Bible Academy and in an orphanage in Mexico. In 1993 she moved to Sheridan, Wyo., and lived near Neil's family until her death. She served on the Heritage Towers Resident Council and taught English as a second language to U.S. immigrants.

She loved her four children, 12 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. She also loved education, reading and gardening. She spent her adult life striving to serve God and left this world at peace with herself and her Lord. Survivors include her children: Ted and Kim Hoversten, Lakewood, Colo., John and Joyce Klaras, Seneca, S.C., Dr. David and Marilyn Hoversten, Sioux Falls, and Neil and Hana Hoversten, Sheridan, Wyo.

Redfield Press - South Dakota
July 26, 2007