| Noteringar |
- Rockford Register Star (Rockford, IL) - Sunday, October 4, 2015
- Ruth Margaret Langager Varland, 97, passed away September 28, 2015. She was cared for at the Country Health Nursing Home in Gifford, Ill., after moving from Rockford, Ill., where she had lived for 67 years. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, two sisters and a brother. She is survived by her children, Kristine (Ron) Witt, Sela Dell Varland, Susan (Edwin) Herricks, Eric (Holly) Varland, Johannah (Jay Thompson) Varland, Elsa (Bill Ehrhardt) Varland; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
- Ruth was born in Butler, S. D., to Frances Isabelle McMabe and Tobias Ludvig "Lud" Langager. She graduated from St. Olaf College in 1940, with a major in English and a minor in history, and then taught high school in Claremont, S.D. As a senior at St. Olaf, she met and fell in love with Orville LeRoy Varland, Jr., and they were married May 31, 1941. A year later she interrupted her career to raise a family after the couple moved to Rockford. She was a member from 1952-58 of the Rockford Teachers Federation Institute panel, a group that focused upon exploring and supporting the mental health of students and teachers. In 1963, she obtained her Illinois teaching certificate and began working as an elementary school substitute teacher in 1966. She completed a Master's of Arts in Teaching at Rockford College in 1970, and began teaching full-time in Rockford's Hall School Adult Education Program the following year. She was elected vice-president of her teachers union, honored in 1987, for outstanding educational contributions to the Rockford Public Schools Those Who Excel, nominated as one of 10 teachers for Illinois Teacher of the Year in 1987, and awarded a lifetime membership to the NEA, also in 1987. She retired from Hall Adult School in 1989, after 18 years but continued her efforts to develop literacy in adults through a tutoring program sponsored by the Rockford Public Library. She served on the Severson Dells Nature Center Board of Directors from 1987 to 1996, and as board secretary from 1987-91. She was also an active member of the Sons of Norway, serving as the organization's secretary for several years.
- Ruth loved to travel and when the children were young, the family visited 47 of the 48 contiguous states and Canada. Ruth traveled to Norway to visit family, and also Greece, Turkey, Italy, Mexico and Canada. She participated in Senior Hostel trips to Alaska, England and Russia. When asked her greatest accomplishment, she replied without hesitation, "My children!" She nurtured the seeds of success in each of her six children, encouraging them to pursue education and careers. Ruth provided an example of what can be achieved by hard work, sacrifice, determination, a great sense of humor, respect for friends and love for family.
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1918 - 2015 (97 år)
