Ruth Harriet (Barton) LARSON

BARTON, LARSON, ELLSWORTH, KAHLER, HANSON, SLEPER, EGESDAHL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/3/2016 at 14:32:29

February 24, 1920 -- May 26, 2005

LAKOTA, IA -- Funeral services for Ruth H. Larson, 85, were held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31 (2005), in St. Paul Lutheran Church at Lakota with the Rev. Marino Meisted officiating. Burial was in the church cemetery with grandsons, Monty Larson, Eric Larson, Craig Ellsworth, Matt Kahler, Nick Larson, Pat Kahler, Mitch Larson and Nick Kahler as casket bearers. Honorary bearers were granddaughters, Amy Kahler, Lindsey Larson, Haley Larson, Lana Larson, Morgan Kahler, Delores Larson and Karla Larson. The Winter Funeral Home of Buffalo Center was in charge of funeral arrangements.

Ruth Harriet Barton was born February 24, 1920, at Belmond, Iowa. She was the third and youngest daughter of Guy and Inga Hanson Barton, former long-time residents of Buffalo Center. Ruth died in St. Luke's Lutheran Home at Blue Earth, Minn., on Thursday, May 26 (2005). Ruth was baptized in St. Olaf Lutheran Church in rural Belmond, Iowa. She and her family, who moved from the Belmond area when Ruth was five, then became members of Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Buffalo Center. Ruth later was a long-time member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lakota. Ruth graduated from Buffalo Center High School in 1937.

She was married to William "Bill" Larson on January 5, 1938, in Bethlehem Lutheran Church at Buffalo Center. After their marriage, Bill and Ruth farmed south of Buffalo Center before moving to the Woden area to farm and run a grocery. In 1948, they moved to Lakota where Bill and his brother, Clinton, ran a produce business. Ruth kept the home fires burning, raising two sons, Rex William and Ross Joel.

Ruth and Bill celebrated 53 years of marriage before Bill's death in 1991. After Bill's death, Ruth remained at the family home for several years before moving into an apartment in Lakota in 2000. She resided there until she became ill in April of 2005.

While raising her two boys, Ruth developed her kitchen skills, skills she put to use when she opened a restaurant, the Ru-Lar-Inn, in Lakota during the mid-1970s. She cooked and baked for the community while also offering a place for the community - including children and high schoolers - to gather and to visit. Ruth's kitchen specialties reflected her Scandinavian heritage; Swedish rye bread, rusks, lefse and sandbakels. She was also known to make wonderful potato salad as well as a mean custard pie, especially raisin and banana cream. Throughout the years, Ruth enjoyed sharing her baked goods with family and friends alike. She also used these skills as she assisted at weddings and funerals.

Besides her kitchen abilities, Ruth enjoyed other simple pleasures. She enjoyed decorating her house, studying for weeks to determine which piece of furniture or which accessory would look best in her home. Shoes were another of her passions; nothing felt better to Ruth than a comfortable - and stylish - pair of shoes. Her only luxurious passion was her interest in fine crystal, especially Candlewick. She passed this interest on to her grandchildren as she presented them with a new piece of crystal at many Christmas gatherings.

Ruth is survived by her two sons; Rex and his wife, Karen, of Lakota and Ross and his wife, Paula, Forest Lake, Minn. She has four grandchildren; Monty and his wife, Karla, Waupaca, Wisc.; Nick and his wife, Delores "Dee" of Algona; Amy Kahler and her husband, Pat, Lakota; and Eric of St. Paul, Minn. There are seven great-grandchildren, Lindsey, Mitchell and Hayley, all of Waupaca, Wisc.; Lane of Algona; Matthew, Morgan and Nicholas, Lakota. She is also survived by her sister, Ona Sleper of Maxwell, Iowa, numerous nieces and nephews. Her parents, husband, Bill and her sister, Mae Egesdahl, preceded Ruth in death.