Bjonerud, Ruth Johnette 1934 - 2018

BJONERUD, FALNES, MILLER, VIISE, MUELLER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 4/2/2018 at 18:22:40

Ruth Bjonerud, age 84, of Calmar, IA died Sunday March 11, 2018 at Aase Haugen Senior Services in Decorah, IA.

Funeral Service will be 11:00 a.m., Tuesday March 20, 2018 at the Calmar Lutheran Church at 200 East St. in Calmar, IA. with Rev. Anita Nuetzman presiding, burial will be in the church cemetery.

There will be visitation after 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at the church.

Ruth is survived by a brother-in-law: Michael Viise, Decorah, IA; Three nieces and a nephew.

Source: Schluter - Balik Funeral Home Database

Added by Joy Moore March 23, 2018

Ruth Bjonerud, age 84, of Calmar, IA died Sunday March 11, 2018 at Aase Haugen Senior Services in Decorah, IA.

Funeral Service will be 11:00 a.m., Tuesday March 20, 2018 at the Calmar Lutheran Church at 200 East St. in Calmar, IA. with Rev. Anita Nuetzman presiding, burial will be in the church cemetery.

There will be visitation after 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at the church.

Ruth Johnette Bjonerud, of Calmar, Iowa, daughter of Edna (née Falnes) and Robert Bjonerud, died peacefully on Sunday, March 11, 2018, at the Aase Haugen Home in Decorah. Ruth was born on January 16, 1934, at the Decorah Hospital, and was baptized on February 18, 1934, at Calmar Lutheran Church by Reverend H. A. Preus. She attended Conover School, graduated from Calmar High School, and attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Despite suffering the lasting effects of childhood scarlet fever and rheumatic fever, Ruth led an independent life. In her early twenties, she traveled to Colorado with a friend and remained there, finding work and making a career in Denver at the Finance Office of the Department of the Air Force. After her father, Robert Bjonerud, died in 1987, Ruth took early retirement and moved back to Calmar to help and care for her mother, Edna Bjonerud, on the family farm.

Ruth embraced life for its possibilities, not its difficulties. She traveled extensively throughout the United States and to Norway. She was an avid and accomplished practitioner of handcrafts, including embroidery, cross-stitch, Klostersom, rug-hooking, and weaving. A multitude of embroidered pillowcases, Klostersom wall-hangings, and table runners testify to the care and skill that Ruth invested in her handwork.
Ruth was a faithful and active member of her home congregation, Calmar Lutheran Church. She served for four years as the president of the Calmar Lutheran chapter of WELCA (Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). Always proud of her Norwegian roots, she was a lifetime member of the Norwegian-American Museum (Vesterheim) in Decorah, Iowa, where she is remembered well for taking courses in cooking and handcrafts and working as a volunteer in the museum gift store.Her nieces and nephew and their families will remember her fondly for her exceptional positivity and resilience, her love of animals, and the pride she took in her family, her church, her community, and her heritage.

She is survived by her nieces Lina Marie Miller (Edwin) of Independence, Kansas; Diane Edna Viise (Cynthia) of Elmhurst, Illinois; Michelle Ruth Viise of Somerville, Massachusetts; and her nephew John Robert Viise (Laura). She is mourned by her 10 grandnieces and grandnephews: Kirsten and Anna Miller; Peter, Andrew, James, and Emily Mueller; and Gustav, Lars, Darrell, and Johann Viise. Ruth is also mourned by her brother-in-law, Michael G. Viise of Decorah.

Ruth is preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Neva Maye (née Bjonerud) Viise.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be sent to Calmar Lutheran Church, Winneshiek County Public Health (Attn: Krista VandenBrink) and Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.

Source: Schluter - Balik Funeral Home database

Calmar Lutheran Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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