Maude Ruth Cramer

CRAMER, MAUDE RUTH October 24, 1919 - June 4, 2018 Maude Ruth Cramer, 98, died peacefully on Monday, June 4th, 2018 in Littleton, Colorado. Ruth was born in Wichita, Kansas on October 24, 1919 to Maud Swaim Morgan and Leo O. Morgan. Ruth continued to live in the Wichita area through her early life, graduating from Wichita State University in 1941. It was in Wichita that Ruth met Joseph Lee Cramer, whom she married in 1942 and who would remain her husband for more than 70 years before his death in 2013. Being married to an “oil man” meant moving around the country. Ruth and Joe lived in several cities including Jackson, Mississippi and Billings, Montana before they settled down in Denver in 1954. Together with Joe, Ruth created & financed archeological research endowments at six universities providing funding for ongoing field excavation & office research involved in the study of the first inhabitants in the Western Hemisphere. Thanks to their generous donations, this research will continue well into the future. Ruth was a member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists Auxiliary and the Montclair Women’s Club for many years. She also volunteered at University Hospital for 27 years, giving more than 10,000 hours of service to the community. Ruth attended Sixth Avenue United Church and greatly enjoyed several pastimes including gardening, baking, and playing lots of bridge with her close friends. Ruth was preceded in death by her husband Joe and two of their sons, Warren Morgan Cramer and David Clark Cramer, as well as her two brothers, John and Clark. She is survived by her loving family, including their son Thomas Kent Cramer; four grandchildren, Warren Christopher Cramer, Stacey Lee Cramer, Denise Michelle Bickel, and John Andrew Cramer; and four great granddaughters, Emily Sarah Cramer, Morgan Kathryne Cramer, Sadie Smith Bickel, and Mae Morgan Bickel. Ruth will be remembered in a private ceremony before her ashes and those of her beloved husband are scattered together in Southeast Montana. Anyone wishing to remember Ruth can do so by donating to the Denver Public Library or Meals on Wheels.