29 July 1912 – 6 August 1947
For this #ImmortalBeloved, we’re in a bit more of a modern context as Ruth was born in the 20th century. She was the daughter of Illinois natives who were themselves the children of German immigrants. She and her only sibling, brother Harold, both completed high school as did her husband Joseph W. Gall who is the missing name on this headstone.
Ruth’s father worked in the steel industry, and in 1930 when she was just out of high school (or perhaps part-time as she was finishing high school), she worked as a stenographer at the steel plant, likely a job her father helped her get at his place of work.
Sadly, Ruth’s father passed away just three years later at only 43. Her paternal grandfather had also died in his 40s, so perhaps there was some hereditary health issue that caused the early passing of three generations of the same family.
Ruth and Joe married in 1935 and lived with Ruth’s widowed mother and younger brother for at least the first few years of their marriage. They had no children, and Ruth died just twelve years later.
It appears that Joe moved away to Minnesota after Ruth’s death, and there he met a young divorcee with several children. They married and had a life together before he too passed away in 1969, just shy of 60 years old.
Unsurprisingly, in that situation, you would expect him to be buried with his second wife, leaving Ruth alone with her parents, brother, and sister-in-law who all share the lot with her. I can’t locate a findagrave.com record for Joe, but his wife’s family and their children were all in Minnesota so I expect that’s where he was buried as well.
RIP Ruth, Joe, and your families
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