Obituary of Ruth L. Lundgren
Ruth Lillian Ellstrom Lundgren was born October 18th, 1922 in Manistee, Michigan in her Grandmother’s Home. Her Mother was Irma and her father, John. She died peacefully, almost 93 years later in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Joy and Kenny Lehtinen.
Ruth and her brother, Jack, grew up in Door county Wisconsin, and really did walk the proverbial 3 ½ miles to school and back each day. She remembers her childhood playing out doors, walking in the woods, swimming, ice skating, and playing the violin.
After High School she worked in a defense plant during the war, and attended Bethel College and Augustana Hospital School of Nursing. Both of these educational endeavors were disrupted by family health and financial needs. She married Paul Lundgren on August 9th, 1945, and they served a small Baptist Church in Hillman Minnesota. They had 2 children Joy and John.
Ruth and Paul moved to Albin, Wyoming, where they served in a flourishing Baptist church. She did many of the traditional pastor wife activities, sang in the choir, taught Sunday school and AWANA, visited parishioners in their homes and read for hours to her children and fed them fresh cinnamon rolls when they got home from school.
The family moved to Nebraska where they lived for 21 years. Paul became a church planter and Ruth went back to finish her nursing degree as an LPN. She worked in a Surgical unit part time until she stopped to care for her aging parents.
After Nebraska, they moved to Cambridge, MN, and Paul served as interim pastor in churches in Wisconsin and Alaska, before joining First Baptist of Cambridge, MN, as pastor for Seniors. First Baptist was a loving, warm home for Ruth. A place of spiritual nurture and belonging and meaningful service.
Ruth enjoyed many interests: painting, ceramics, Swedish club. She took figure skating lessons at age 50, and even played Frisbee with her great grandchildren at at 91. She went to more concerts than all of her grandchildren combined. And if there was a dinner at a local church she would be there.
She had a gift of hospitality and she and Paul maintained friendships with people of many persuasions because they were so interesting. Ruth showed a resiliency of spirit after Paul died and, with her dear friends, continued to serve many in the community.
She recovered remarkably from a severe illness in 2010 that required 3 procedures and 22 units of blood, but on Memorial Day 2015 she had an acute coronary syndrome that left her with a severely weakened heart. 3 months later, as it was clear that she was not going to recover, she chose Hospice Care and committed her spirit to the Lord on October 2nd, 2015.
She is survived by her children, Joy (Kenny) and John (Dawn); four grandchildren Bjorn (Sarah), Dane (Jade), Trygve (Bethany), and Maija (Hank); and nine (and counting) great grandchildren, Gabriel, Caleb, Kristiana, Mary Kate, Lucia, Pearl, Anna, Elise, and Clive.
