Obituary for Ruth Estelle Kimball
Ruth Estelle Kimball
Dec. 5, 1921 - Feb. 23, 2020
Ruth Estelle Kimball, 98, passed away at peace in the arms of her savior on Sunday at the Hillview Chateau assisted living facility in Altoona.
She was born in Page, Kan., to Alfred Adam and Ara Ora (Dean) Wilson.
Ruth grew up in Kansas and Colorado, as she followed her father, a station agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, through a succession of small towns. In 1939, she graduated from Weldona High School in Weldona, Colo., as the Salutatorian. After high school, she attended the Success Business College in Denver, Colo., where she polished her writing skills, served as the editor of the school paper and was initiated in the National Honor Society for journalism.
Her ambition to write the "Great American Novel" was side-tracked by the appearance of an insistent young Army sergeant, Stanley Jerome Kimball, who would become the love of her life, and with whom she eloped, marrying him on May 31, 1941, in Idaho Springs, Colo., after their second date. They were happily married for 70 years.
Ruth was a talented musician, singer, athlete and painter, but will best be remembered as a devoted wife and mother, who shared and loyally supported Stanley's career from the Army Air Corps to the U.S. Air Force as a tropical meteorologist and then as a professor at Penn State University. She served as a civilian administrator and bomb warden at La Junta Army Air Field while Stanley fought in the Pacific during WW II. Then, at the many posts and stations that followed until they settled in Altoona, in 1966, ranging from Japan and Guam to Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, Maryland, Nebraska, Florida and Colorado, she exercised her considerable administrative skills as a volunteer officer in numerous base, university, and hospital organizations and most recently, as a Sunday school teacher, secretary and nursery attendant at the New Hope Baptist Church.
She greatly enjoyed her family, friends, corresponding and reading. Despite her outgoing, loving nature and sparkling intelligence, the most indelible image she leaves behind is as one-half of the pair of lovers, her at 4'11" and Stanley at 6'1," walking hand-in-hand down the many roads of the life they shared together.
Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Stanley, in 2011; her parents, Alfred Adam and Ara Ona Wilson; her sister, Marjorie Abbott; brother, James Wilson; daughter, Bonnie Ruth Kimball; sisters-in-law: Florence Kimball and Bette Van Cleave; and brothers-in-law, George Abbott, N. Delmar Kimball and Guy Van Cleave.
Ruth is survived by her son, Lt. Col. Lynn Kimball, USMC (Ret.) and his wife, Dorothy (Bumar), of Jacksonville, N.C.; her grandchildren: Don Buchek, Scott Kimball, Wendy Rockwell, Lori Fitizanan and Todd Kimball; her four great-grandchildren: Casey Capehart, Jesse and Jake Eller and Jamara Kimball; and sister-in-law, Marge Wilson of Cheyenne, Wy.
At Ruth's request, there will be no viewing or memorial service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the New Hope Baptist Church, 276 Maple Hollow Road, Duncansville, PA 16635.
Arrangements are by The Good Funeral Home Inc., Alto-Reste Park. Condolences may be left under "Share a Memory" on Ruth's informative page at thegoodfuneralhomeinc.com.
Dec. 5, 1921 - Feb. 23, 2020
Ruth Estelle Kimball, 98, passed away at peace in the arms of her savior on Sunday at the Hillview Chateau assisted living facility in Altoona.
She was born in Page, Kan., to Alfred Adam and Ara Ora (Dean) Wilson.
Ruth grew up in Kansas and Colorado, as she followed her father, a station agent for the Union Pacific Railroad, through a succession of small towns. In 1939, she graduated from Weldona High School in Weldona, Colo., as the Salutatorian. After high school, she attended the Success Business College in Denver, Colo., where she polished her writing skills, served as the editor of the school paper and was initiated in the National Honor Society for journalism.
Her ambition to write the "Great American Novel" was side-tracked by the appearance of an insistent young Army sergeant, Stanley Jerome Kimball, who would become the love of her life, and with whom she eloped, marrying him on May 31, 1941, in Idaho Springs, Colo., after their second date. They were happily married for 70 years.
Ruth was a talented musician, singer, athlete and painter, but will best be remembered as a devoted wife and mother, who shared and loyally supported Stanley's career from the Army Air Corps to the U.S. Air Force as a tropical meteorologist and then as a professor at Penn State University. She served as a civilian administrator and bomb warden at La Junta Army Air Field while Stanley fought in the Pacific during WW II. Then, at the many posts and stations that followed until they settled in Altoona, in 1966, ranging from Japan and Guam to Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, Missouri, Maryland, Nebraska, Florida and Colorado, she exercised her considerable administrative skills as a volunteer officer in numerous base, university, and hospital organizations and most recently, as a Sunday school teacher, secretary and nursery attendant at the New Hope Baptist Church.
She greatly enjoyed her family, friends, corresponding and reading. Despite her outgoing, loving nature and sparkling intelligence, the most indelible image she leaves behind is as one-half of the pair of lovers, her at 4'11" and Stanley at 6'1," walking hand-in-hand down the many roads of the life they shared together.
Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Stanley, in 2011; her parents, Alfred Adam and Ara Ona Wilson; her sister, Marjorie Abbott; brother, James Wilson; daughter, Bonnie Ruth Kimball; sisters-in-law: Florence Kimball and Bette Van Cleave; and brothers-in-law, George Abbott, N. Delmar Kimball and Guy Van Cleave.
Ruth is survived by her son, Lt. Col. Lynn Kimball, USMC (Ret.) and his wife, Dorothy (Bumar), of Jacksonville, N.C.; her grandchildren: Don Buchek, Scott Kimball, Wendy Rockwell, Lori Fitizanan and Todd Kimball; her four great-grandchildren: Casey Capehart, Jesse and Jake Eller and Jamara Kimball; and sister-in-law, Marge Wilson of Cheyenne, Wy.
At Ruth's request, there will be no viewing or memorial service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the New Hope Baptist Church, 276 Maple Hollow Road, Duncansville, PA 16635.
Arrangements are by The Good Funeral Home Inc., Alto-Reste Park. Condolences may be left under "Share a Memory" on Ruth's informative page at thegoodfuneralhomeinc.com.