Ruth Carlson

Ruth Carlson passed away on January 28, 2020 at Oakview Nursing Home in Conrad after a fall at home on the 20th of January. She was born to George and Bertha (Thadden) Delfs on May 4, 1922 on the family farm in northeast Marshall County. She joined an older sister Marie and later a younger sister, Amy. She went to country school and graduated from Gladbrook in 1939. She and her sister Marie each milked seven cows by hand before and after school. Her dad took her to Des Moines for accordion lessons and she and another girl from Marshalltown played on WHO radio in Des Moines. She went to business college in Marshalltown and worked for the Welfare office. She met Roy and they were married at the Little Brown Church on December 7, 1946. They lived on their farm near LaMoille and she became a farm wife and raised two boys, Tom and Jim. In 1962 she went back to work in town and worked at the Mental Health Center eventually becoming office manager and retiring in 1985. The family took yearly vacations and for their 25th wedding anniversary, Roy and Ruth went to Hawaii. In later years, they also traveled to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and the Rose Bowl parade twice. She enjoyed going to the Iowa State Fair and the Minnesota State Fair and the Clay County Fair at Spencer. After retiring they bought a travel trailer and went south to Harlingen, TX for 13 years in the winter. While Roy was in the nursing home for almost 7 years she did not travel. When he passed away Ruth and Tom went to Alamo, TX for 7 years during Tom’s Christmas break from Fishers and driving bus. That stopped when she fell and broke her hip. She was a great cook, especially Swedish rye bread, coffee cake, and pies. While the family lived at LaMoille, she was very active in the LaMoille church. She was a member of the Ladies Aid, Young Married Couples Group, God’s Portion Sale and the ice cream socials. Ruth was also a Sunday school teacher and one of the church organists. She was an avid quilter and enjoyed crocheting, gifting many people with her crafts. She survived many break and health issues through the years, which she credited to hard work in her younger years. She was very proud of her sons, Tom and Jim and Jim’s wife Beth and her grandsons, Anders and Jarred. In later years she was content living in her townhouse, going to the beauty shop once a week (a habit she picked up while working in town), and enjoyed being Grandma. She was preceded in death by her parents, both sisters, her husband, Roy, and is survived by her sons, Tom and Jim and his wife Beth and their sons, Anders and Jarred.