Ruth Ann Boys' Obituary
Ruth Ann Boys, age 83, died Feb. 24, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. She was born June 4, 1941, in Blue Island, Illinois, the daughter and third child of the late Herman and Selma (Sieg) Benck. Her husband of 61 years, William E. Boys, survives. Her brother, Ralph Benck, died in 2002. His widow, Carol (nee Carlson), survives, as well as nephew Eric (Sharon Roosevelt) Benck, and nieces Elise (Gary) Bowman and Evonne (Albert) Woolford; by her sister, Irene Hanson, and nieces Cathy (Scott) Cunz, Colleen (Robert) Peto, and Sandra (Mark) Jurca, and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews. Plus many more on her husband’s side.
Ruth graduated from Joliet Junior College, Joliet; and Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois, with a B.S. in Ed. She married Bill on Aug. 31, 1963, at Trinity Lutheran Church, New Lenox, Illinois. She taught kindergarten for two years around St. Louis, Missouri, while Bill completed seminary, then accompanied him to linguistic and African studies at the Summer Institute of Linguistics at the Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, the Univ. of California at Los Angeles, and then to the Nigerian mission field. Their stay in Nigeria was interrupted by the 1967 secession of Biafra and the subsequent civil war.
While back in the U.S., she worked at the Education Library at Ohio State University while Bill was in graduate Linguistics study at Ohio State. She became familiar during that time with the growing use of computers in libraries and businesses.
After the civil war ended in Nigeria, without explanation the Nigerian government refused them visas to return, so thereafter she accompanied Bill to his pastorates at Faith Lutheran Church in Mansfield, Ohio, and Alleluia! Lutheran Church, later merged with Ascension Lutheran Church, to form Peace Lutheran Church, Knoxville, Tennessee. She was active in church life throughout that time, especially in the choirs. She was also an avid birdwatcher, gardener, beekeeper at one time, and an embroiderer. She refinished family pieces of furniture. She enjoyed international homestay visits and hostings through Friendship Force International, and was an active hostess through the Evergreen Club, domestically. She participated over all the years of their marriage in family reunions of the Isaac & Rebecca Zartman Family.
During the stateside years, in addition to the Ohio State Education Library, she worked at Shelby Mutual Insurance and Gorman Rupp Pumps, Shelby, Ohio, 1974 to 1979; and at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, nuclear complex from 1980 to 2004, when she retired as Program Manager for the Occupational Health Information System for Martin Marietta Energy Systems at the complex.
She and Bill joined Messiah Lutheran Church, Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1998. In 2015 the couple retired to Columbus, Ohio, and joined Redeemer Lutheran Church.
Ruth’s cremated remains and, eventually, those of Bill, who served 32 years as a Naval Reserve chaplain, will be buried together at sea by the U.S. Navy.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1555 S. James Rd., Columbus OH 43227. (Visitation from 10 a.m. and a lunch following the service.)
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