Ruth Annette Linnell

Ruth Annette (Peterson) Linnell passed away on December 3, 2014 at her home in Golden Horizons of Pine City, MN at the age of 93. Ruth was born on August 22, 1921 in Royalton Township, MN. She was the second of five children born to Anna (Thorine) and Theodore Peterson. Ruth grew up on the farm where she was born near Grasston, MN next to her Grandparents’ (Thorine) farm. It was here that she began to learn hard-work and perseverance. She attended the Grasston Lutheran Church where she was baptized and confirmed. Ruth was a student of the Hay Creek Rural School and later graduated from the Grasston High School in 1938, at the age of 16. Upon graduation, she completed a one-year course in Elementary Education at the Mora State Teachers College (commonly referred to as “Normal Training”) and began her life-long teaching career as a rural school teacher in the fall of 1939. She taught in four, local rural schools including, the school at “Brown’s Corner”, the “Brunswick Road” School, the Cloverdale School and the “Minar” School. On April 18, 1943 Ruth was joined in Marriage to Wallace Herbert Linnell. The couple began to raise their three children on a farm they purchased east of Pine City, MN just south of the Snake River. In addition to being a hard-working farm wife, Ruth was also a working woman off of the farm. When her youngest child went to school, Ruth went back to school too—not only as a teacher, but eventually as a student herself. After several years of summer school, correspondence courses, and remote-location classes, Ruth graduated from the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in 1964. In 1958, Ruth began a long and enjoyable career in public education by accepting an elementary teaching position with the Rush City School District. She retired from this position in 1986. Her teaching career was the highlight of her life and she dearly loved teaching and all of her students. Following Wallace’s death in 1992, Ruth moved into her new home on Woodpecker Ridge in Pine City. In 2004, she moved into Golden Horizons and later into the Memory Care unit of that same facility. Ruth’s life was filled with many hobbies and interests. She loved her pets, especially dogs, cats and birds at the feeder. She was an avid vegetable and flower gardener and canned/preserved food each year. She made much of her family’s clothing and enjoyed mending. She was accomplished in handiwork and was well-known for her crocheting and macramé. Ruth enjoyed traveling with family and friends and even made a trip to Sweden to meet her first cousins there. She was a member of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Pine City and enjoyed extensive involvement in that congregation. Ruth is survived by her sister Hazel Acton of Arizona, her children Wallace (Theresa) Linnell, Loie Ann (Dennis) Long and Linda (Gene) Baum all of Pine City, 6 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 9 great, great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, grandson Erick Linnell, brother Edgar Peterson and sisters Fern Folkstad and Helen Lee. A time of visitation is planned for Saturday (12/6/14) at the Swanson Chapel in Pine City from 10am to 12 noon. Ruth will be interred at Birchwood Cemetery in Pine City, MN. Memorials may be directed to the Rush City Elementary School Library in memory of Ruth. Funeral arrangements for Ruth Linnell of Pine City are entrusted to the Funeral and Cremation Service of Pine City; Swanson Chapel. www.funeralandcremationservice.com