Ruth M. Crane

Ruth Crane passed away Dec. 21, 2008 at Platte Valley Hospital. She was born in 1916 in Sioux City, Iowa where she went through the city's public school system. Ruth and her younger sister, Joyce, were excellent high school basketball players. She enrolled at Morningside College where she met her future husband, Leonard. Upon graduation, she accepted a teaching position in Woodbine, Iowa in 1938. Ruth and Leonard were married in 1939, then moved to Dubuque, Iowa where four of their children, Bill, Kay, Don, and Gordon, were born. The family moved to Moorhead, Minnesota in 1948 where Leonard manage the Sears Farm Store in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1950 the family moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa where Judy, their youngest child, was born. Leonard resigned from Sears in 1953 and the family moved to Aurora, Colorado. Using capital they accumulated from Sears' profit sharing benefit program, they founded a rental equipment company. Besides working part time at the rental, Ruth was very active as a Girl Scout Leader and a trainer for other leaders. Her life revolved around her children and her children's friends who were always welcome in the family home. During the daytime, there would often be pick-up football games in the front yard or basketball games in the back yard. Evenings would find family and guests playing cards and games around the dining room table. Grandma Ruth's attention shifted to her grandchildren when they began arriving. She was an outstanding crocheter and the grandchildren were often dressed in sweaters, booties, and hats and warmed by blankets that she produced. Upon Leonard's death in 1993, she moved to Inglenook Retirement Home in Brighton, Colorado where she has lived for the past fifteen years. She served as President of the Resident's Association and taught craft classes to other residents. She was preceded in death by her two brothers and two sisters. Ruth is survived by her five children and their spouses, Nancy, Paul, Mary, Linda, and Bob plus twelve grandchildren, seventeen great grandchildren, and three great great grandchildren. She also leaves many close friends at the retirement home. A private service will be held on Friday, Dec. 26, 2008. ""When Ruth was a child, she laughed and wept. Then time crept. When she was a youth, she became more bold. Then she strolled. When she grew up, she became a woman. Then time ran. In 2008, Ruth passed on. Her time on earth was now gone. She is now in heaven with Jesus and loved ones. She will be happy forever to be with them.""