Ruth Louise Burgess was born on January 15th, 1928, in Hyannis, Nebraska to Ralph and Charlotte (Lottie) Stevens of Ashby, Nebraska.
Ruth attended elementary school at the one-room Locust School, at the east end of the valley where she grew up. She graduated from high school at Ashby, Nebraska. Later in life she took Licensed Practical Nurse training in Alliance, Nebraska. Earning her LPN certificate was an accomplishment of which she was very proud.
She married Bernard C. Burgess on June 12th, 1946. From this union came four children: Bernard Harry (Bernie) who lives in Bee Branch, Arkansas; Gary Ralph, of Ashby, Nebraska; David Dean, of Valentine, Nebraska; and Debra Beth, who is deceased.
Married life started on the Harry and Myrtle Anderson ranch, south of Ashby, which has remained in her family to the present.
Life was unique in the Nebraska Sandhills. For example, Ruth met her future husband, Bernard, when his sister, Frances, brought Ruth on a visit to their home as a young girl. The two-years-older Bernard was highly offended that his sister would bring this pig-tailed girl to follow him around. He didn’t know that he’d marry her a few years later. As a young mother of her first two sons, Ruth faced a difficult winter emergency when her husband was run over by a hay sled. With an injured husband, a five-year-old, and a sick infant, she worked her way over two snow-covered hills, and nearly made it across two valleys. The car became hopelessly stuck about a mile from her parents. She ran in foot deep snow to her parents and enlisted her father to bring a tractor to dig out and pull them to the highway. At the doctor’s office in Hyannis, as Doctor Howell began to work on Bernard, he noticed the infant, Gary, had a bad cough and congestion. The doctor turned his attention to Gary, who was discovered to be very sick with pneumonia. Her husband’s accident and Ruth’s persistence probably saved Gary’s life. Years later, Ruth and family lived in a baled hay house and leased the Edward Becker ranch for seventeen years.
Following her husband’s death in 2004, Ruth lived on their ranch for a year and then moved to Alliance. There she was very active in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and became well known for volunteering literally anywhere help was needed. Two of her passions were going to garage, yard, and estate sales, and listening for deals on “Open Mike.”
Ruth is survived by her sister, Joan; sister-in-law, Mary Ann; sons, Bernie (Ruth), Gary (De Etta), David (Dixie); seven grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Ralph and Lottie; husband, Bernard C. Burgess; daughter, Debra Beth; siblings, Jack, Bill, Wayne, Elizabeth, Anna Jane, infant boy; sisters-in-law, Pauline Stevens, Norma Jean Stevens, Hazel Mattern, Frances Dubs, Katie Weeks, Pauline Burgess, Hulda Burgess, and Margie Burgess; brothers-in-law, Ike Failor, Jack Patterson, Loren Sutton, Edward Burgess, Bob Burgess, Rudolph (Rudy) Dubs, William (Billy) Burgess; William (Bill) Weeks, Don Mattern, and a host of other relatives and friends.
This highly known, respected, and loved Sandhills ranch woman, Ruth, departed life on January 25th, 2022, at her home in Alliance, Nebraska.
Funeral services will be Saturday, January 29 at 1:00 p.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church in Hyannis, NE with Rev. Deacon Cheryl Harris officiating. Burial will be in the Ashby Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to the American Red Cross in either a monetary or blood donation.
Online condolences may be left at www.batesgould.com with Bates-Gould Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.