Ruth Patty, 106, of Windsor, Indiana, passed away Wednesday, September 18th, at her daughter’s home in Greenfield. Ruth was born in Newaygo, Michigan on August 25, 1918, to Horace and Myrtle Sprague. Ruth told wonderful stories of growing up in the small town along the picturesque Muskegon River. The youngest of four children, Ruth loved reading, school, and her friends, and her intelligence and independence were evident right from the start. As a young girl, Ruth helped her dad with his newspaper business, delivering papers on her route and collecting on Saturdays. A good student, she applied herself to her studies and graduated as co-valedictorian of her high school class.

In her early 20s, Ruth heard on the radio that the U.S. Army was inviting women to get involved in the war effort through the Women’s Army Corps. Ruth’s brother George helped arrange an airplane ride (in an open-cockpit biplane!) so that she could get to the state capital in Lansing and submit her application. While all her friends were making plans to get married and start families in Newaygo, Ruth boarded a train to Florida, where she would begin basic training in Daytona Beach.

Ruth loved everything about the Army. She met people from all over, and many of them became life-long friends. The first time she drove a vehicle, she was behind the wheel of a 6x6, a large Army truck with a tricky gearshift and tires as tall as her shoulders. As part of the transportation pool, Ruth drove those big trucks in convoys, and she drove jeeps to take military officers to appointments on and off the base. Later Ruth was assigned to an Army hospital in North Carolina, where she drove a large, stretch, touring car to take recovering soldiers for respite day trips up into the mountains. She said the beauty there was a healing balm for body, mind, and soul.

At the close of the war, Ruth used her Army training to find work as an Xray technician back home in Michigan, and not long after, a promising correspondence with a fellow Army veteran, Joe Patty, began to blossom into romance. Ruth married Joe on January 25, 1947, and they enjoyed 68 happy years together, filled with farming, family, friends, and fun. Son Steve and daughter Jan soon came along to complete the happiness of the small family. They enjoyed their years together farming on the beautiful homestead in Windsor, and Ruth and Joe went on to share their retirement years with family and friends, traveling to Florida and Texas in the winters, and staying active with activities like square dancing, bowling, golf, tennis, biking, and more. Ruth was in her 90s when she finally decided it was time to put her bike away for the last time.

Left to carry on Ruth’s legacy are her son Steve (Betty) Patty, daughter Jan Turner; grandchildren Christa, Ben, Joe, Brian, and Jon; great-grandchildren Gus, Abe, and Wesley, and special cat friend, Lily.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, her siblings, her beloved husband Joe, and many dear friends. Her family envisions a happy reunion now as she rejoins her tribe and gets back to playing games and sharing dinners and hiking beautiful trails in the next realm.

Private family services will be held honoring Ruth and celebrating the many ways her intelligence, kindness, and brave-girl nature inspired those who knew and loved her. She will be greatly missed and remembered with lasting love.