Ruth Strahm Meyer

is honored with a Brick from Janet Meyer Rathbun.

Ruth was born January 13, 1928, to Dewey and Susie (Ersham) Strahm. Ruth was raised on a farm in northern Nemaha County not far from Bern, Kansas. She attended school in Bern and graduated from Bern High School. Following graduation, she took courses from Emporia State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas and from Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas, to be qualified to teach for two years in the Union Rural and Eureka School Districts. Ruth married Fremond Meyer in 1947 and began her real career as a farm wife, mother, and partner. To this union were born four children, Lynn, Don, Janet, and Rob. Ruth joined the Berwick Home Benefit Unit in 1951, two years after the unit was first organized in 1949, and was a member of this unit for 72 years. Ruth was very active in her unit, having served as an officer every year she belonged until the last 10 years. Her interest didn’t stop with the local unit but she was very active on the county level, serving as the county council president several years. This led to area offices and she served as a member of several committees and was Northeast Area Director for one term. One of the unique accomplishments during Ruth’s tenure as president of the Homemaker Council was the creation of the “Nemaha County United Charities.” This was a unique project designed to save time and energy for everyone because it collected donations for all the charities in a one-time effort rather than having multiple drives, and it covered all the cities and rural communities in the county. In the late 1950’s, the two oldest Meyer boys joined 4-H, and eventually all of Ruth’s children were involved with 4-H. Ruth not only served sixteen years as the community leader of the Lucky Clover 4-H Club, but was also a project leader, being the mother of a bachelor cooking club for the boys, a first in Nemaha County. Ruth herself was an excellent seamstress and shared this talent with her daughter who was frequently a fashion review winner in the county and participant several times in the Make-it-With-Wool contest. One of Ruth’s many interests was making wagon wheel rugs from old jeans which she generously shared with friends and families—an original recycler. Ruth Elaine Strahm Meyer, 95, of died peacefully on Sunday, November 5, 2023, in her home at the Apostolic Christian West Village in Sabetha, Kansas.