Ruth A. Smeby

Ruth Ann Smeby was a caring wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. She left this world on September 4, 2023 at age 89. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 am on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Mason City, Iowa, with Rev Dan Gerrietts officiating.  Interment will follow in the Elmwood- St. Joseph Cemetery.  Visitation will be held from 9:30 AM til time of service at the church on Tuesday.  Memorials maybe directed to Trinity Lutheran Church. 

Ruth was born to Minnie and Herbert Stevenson on November 12, 1933. She was the eleventh of eleven children. After graduating from high school in Minneapolis, MN, Ruth lived with her mother.  She took a bus to work and loved her work at a bank where she did typing and shorthand.  She met her husband, Donald Skjerseth who was renting a room from her mother. They were married in 1954. Together Ruth and Donald had 4 children: Nathan, Joy, Beth and Janice.  Ruth lost her first husband Donald to an infection from an appendectomy in 1963 in Peever South Dakota where Donald was serving as a Lutheran Pastor.

Ruth and her four young children moved to Britt, Iowa to be close to two of her brothers to raise the four young children. She supported the family by writing and typing for the local newspaper.

Ruth met and married John Smeby of Hanlontown, Iowa in 1968. Together Ruth and John had a child: Mary. Together they farmed for many years. She lost John when he went to be with his Lord in August 2017 after a courageous battle with dementia. Ruth was a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Hanlontown.

Ruth loved spending time in the kitchen, creating delicious meals for her family. She delighted family, neighbors and many friends by baking for them. Her cinnamon rolls and apple pies were always a favorite. Ruth has always been a woman of strong faith and always was thinking of and caring for others putting them before herself. She was often the first to write a get well note, a congratulatory note, or just a note to say she was thinking of you and praying for you. She was a piano player and loved music. The simplest pleasures in life brought great joy to Ruth. She loved visits from grandchildren and great grandchildren.  She had an uncanny ability to find happiness in her daily activities. Her pleasant personality was contagious to everyone she met.

She didn’t get to see much of world but loved the times she got to see the mountains of Colorado and the ocean surrounding Florida.

She is survived by her five children Nathan (Laurie) Skjerseth, Joy (Dale) Thompson, Beth (Paul) Sasse, Janice (Brian) Heyer, Mary Smeby, by her brother Bob Stevenson of Mesa Arizona, and by many grand and great grandchildren.