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Obituary for Ruth Edna Lind
Ruth Edna Lind, 84, of Brookings, went to be with her Lord on Friday, September 13, 2013. She passed peacefully, in her sleep, at home, her daughter with her to the end. Ruth was born May 7, 1929 in Reeseville, Wis. She was a happy child, always smiling and cheerful and brought joy to everyone who knew her. She loved music and spent her high school years in both band and glee club. She would pass this love of music on to both her children. Ruth wanted to be a nurse, and, following graduation from high school in 1946, went on to college, first at Mission House College in Plymouth, Wis., and then transferring to University of Wisconsin-Madison in her second year. However, she had to give up on a degree back then when she realized her feet wouldn’t hold up to the rigors of nursing. But she never lost the desire to help others, and so, in 1991, she pursued and completed the Nurse Aide Competency Evaluation Program at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Following college, Ruth became a “working girl”, first in Madison, Wis., and then in Denver, Colo. She made friends wherever she went, and was especially fond of a group of friends she called “the girls.” Friends were very important to her, and she made it a point to keep in touch with many of her girlfriends throughout her life. Ruth met her future husband, Bill Lind, in 1955 on a blind date at a square dance in Medicine Bow, Wyo. They were married November 24, 1956 in Reeseville, Wis. and settled in Medicine Bow. They adopted their daughter, Kathleen, in 1961 and the son, Gerald, in 1963. Ruth became a homemaker, supporting her husband in his career as a Forest Service Ranger and raising her children to be happy, healthy, and productive. She loved being a wife and mother, and gave her family the best of everything. She made a home that was safe and warm, filled with lots of love and laughter; her husband and children were truly blessed. When Bill retired in 1982, the couple moved to Lewiston, Idaho where they spent the next thirty years until his death in 2012. Ruth then moved to Brookings, Ore. to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Rich Dickson. (She never quite got used to the rain, but she learned to love looking at the ocean!) She certainly missed her friends in Lewiston, but she quickly made new friends in Brookings – Ruth was the sort of person that everyone who met her became her friend. Ruth loved people, and volunteering was her way of showing it. She gave of herself in countless ways: working with shut-ins through the senior center, as a lifelong member of Beta Sigma Phi, as a member of the Newcomer’s Club, and helping with senior meals at her church in Lewiston. But it was through her volunteer work with Family Hospice that Ruth truly shined as a giving, caring woman. She was one of the initial group of volunteers when Family Hospice first started in 1983 in Lewiston, and gave of herself in every way possible for the next 29 years. She gave over one thousand hours to Hospice in those 29 years, and always felt blessed to be a part of such a selfless group of people. And when it was her turn to receive the love and care of Hospice in Brookings, she graciously welcomed it. Ruth leaves behind her daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Rich Dickson of Brookings, Ore., son, Gerald Lind of Boise, Ida., grandchildren, Jeremy McKee of Pasco, Wash., Amanda Lind of California, and Josh Lind of Eugene, Ore., brothers and sisters-in-law, Lee and Alene Reinhard of Roswell, NM, and Carl and Darlene Reinhard of Wauwatosa, Wis. Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Bill and parents, Alvin and Edna Reinhard. A funeral service will be held for Ruth at her church, Smith River United Methodist Church, 121 North Beckstead in Smith River, Calif. on Sunday, October 6, 2013 at 4:00pm. Interment will take place at Eagle Point National Cemetery in Oregon, where she will be reunited with her husband, Bill. Those wishing to make donations in Ruth’s name can do so to the following: Family Hospice, 415 Sixth St., Lewiston ID, 83501, Orchards United Methodist Church, 1213 Burrell Ave., Lewiston, ID 83501, Coastal Home Health and Hospice, PO Box 493, Gold Beach, OR 97444, the Chetco Activity Center, PO Box 1444, Brookings, OR 97415 or Smith River United Methodist Church, PO Box 810, Smith River, CA 95567.
