Ruth Lovine Ford Fell
is honored with a Brick from Carol Wolfe Konek
Ruth Ford Fell was born Dec. 10, 1911 to Harry and Pearl Keltner Ford at Meade, Kansas. She was raised on a farm on the Irish Flats, southwest of Meade near her dear cousins of the Asa and Fred Ford families. She was an only child, but her parents also raised two foster children, Inez and Charles Burnett, whose parents had died. She graduated from the Meade High School and was married the next year to Harrison Fell on September 20, 1931 in the family home. They lived in Colby, Kansas for a while before returning to work on a ranch at LaVerne, Okla. Here their first daughter, Donna Joy, was born, followed by their second daughter, Vera Ruth, two years later. Their third daughter, Marilyn Kay, was born while they lived in Meade, where Harrison was a car salesman.
They moved to Liberal, Kansas in 1940 before Harry Ford's health was declining. As Harry needed help on the ranch north of Kit Carson, Colorado, they moved there to become part of the Ford-Fell Ranch. They lived on the Benthrup Ranch and then moved to Levant and Colby, Kansas taking cattle to wheat pasture.
They then returned to the Ford./Fell Ranch when their son, Richard Harrison, was born. They lived and raised their family here until 1956 when the drought forced them from the ranch. They lived in Kit Carson until 1958 when they moved to Hugoton, Kansas where Harrison had an auctioneering company.
Harrison suffered a heart attack, but recovered enough to continue his work and being a rodeo announcer for several years. However, he died August 17, 1962 after a year-long battle with congestive heart failure.
Ruth and Richard remained in Hugoton until Richard graduated in 1964. Ruth then moved to Meade to live with her folks and take care of her mother for eight and a half years after Pearl had had a stroke.
Ruth had lived in Meade for the rest of her life when she was in Colorado and had a stroke in January of 1998. She had been a resident of the Weisbrod Nursing Home until she passed away on November 24th.
While a child living on the farm southwest of Meade, Ruth became a Christian at the country church, Elsie Chapel, which would always be an important part of her life. She and her cousins were very close, as they also were close to their cousins who lived in Hoisington, KS. All of her life it was very important to Ruth that she be able to go to the Ford-Keltner-Lowery annual reunions. There were nineteen double cousins that remained close all of their lives.
Living on the ranch north of Kit Carson, Ruth raised chickens, gardened, and cooked for her family and often four hired men at the ranch. She was active in the Mt. Pearl community, where her children attended elementary school and then later high school in Kit Carson. While there she contacted the county agent to see about organizing a 4-H club in Cheyenne County. As a result the Twin Buttes 4-H club was the first in the county and the Fell children were members showing cattle and quarter horses that were raised on the ranch.
The family was active in the Kit Carson Methodist Church and never missed a Sunday, even though they lived fifteen miles from town. She and Harrison were members of the Progressive Club, which she enjoyed.
Ruth loved babies and always seemed to have on her lap where ever they were. So, when they moved to Kit Carson she babysat to help the income. When living in Meade, she babysat for a number of children, and in later years she was invited to every wedding in Meade. Many couples in Meade were recipients of her lovely, embroidered pillowcases.
And who hasn't had some of Ruth's crocheted pot holders, which she gave out like business cards-only they were her gift of love.
Ruth loved participating in county fairs, both in Colorado and at Meade with her baking and sewing. She would get many blue ribbons and enjoyed it for many, many years.
Her children's friends still remark about Ruth's fried bread, her cinnamon rolls, her chicken and noodles. The Fell household was always full of the children's friends. They loved going to the ranch for weiner roasts, riding horses, and slumber parties. Ruth always made them feel welcome. She also allowed all of her kids to have their dogs and pets, which they still have their love of animals, rodeo, and horse racing.
Ruth never knew a stranger and would strike up a conversation with anyone and mostly would tell him or her, what a wonderful family she had. She liked to tell of every one of them and their accomplishments. She had babysat with all of them a number of times and knew her grandchildren and great grandchildren very well. They always knew the Grandma Ruth would be there for their football games, baseball and basketball games, the gymkhanas, the 4-H programs, square dance revues, or whatever they might be involved in - including going to the National Finals Rodeos in Las Vegas to watch her granddaughter, Tamara, compete.
In the years that she was able to go, her family sent her on trips that she loved so much. She went to California to see her beloved cousin, Fern, and they would take in Disneyland. She and two friends, Ruth Bienke and Lola Nash, went to Hawaii with the Lamar Dudes and Dames square dancers, where her granddaughter, Dwana and Dawni, were dancing. Marilyn and Norman and the Bledsoes could not keep up with her, as she was not missing anything while they were there. She loved the trips to Kansas City for the Christmas lights and going to Branson or to Epcot in Florida. But most of all, she loved going to things with her family. She traveled many miles to rodeos with them and would ask, "How much money did you win?"
She never missed a birthday, an anniversary party, a shower, a wedding, a baptism, or just a get together for Ground Hog day. Her innocent sense of humor delighted all who knew her and her family has a treasure chest of memories of Grandma's sayings. She loved the Christmas programs at the family Christmas and often took part - always reading from the Bible of the Christmas story to start the festivities.
She instilled a deep respect for learning - always telling ones to get good grades - honestly, morality, responsibility, patriotism, and to be in church.
It's hard to sum up a life of nearly 93 years in a few paragraphs, but her last few years after her stroke slowed down her zest for life. Not once did she ask why this happened to her and complain of her final station in life. She died at the stroke of midnight, which means that this Cinderella caught her chariot to heaven and things are sure to be busy up there for an eternity.
Ruth is survived by her loving family of Donna and Dwain Eaton, Dwana, Dawni, and Dayne and their families; Vera and Don Hammons, Tamara, Troy, Talara and their families; Marilyn White, Scott, Perry, Melody, and Sean and their families; Richard and Judy Fell, Monica, Mia, and Harrison and their families. This includes 13 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and one great, great-granddaughter.
While speeding to a ball game in Dodge City
Ruth Fell opened her purse to show me a pretty
It seems it's never zipped due to it's treasures
But she keeps each item to bring many pleasures
With the leather sides parting, another world came into being
I couldn't believe some of the beautiful jewelry I was seeing
Brooches, earrings, and pins of family past
This little flea market could forever last
Digging a little further, I spied peanuts in a cup
She tried to explain that, so I didn't interrupt
But there at the bottom, accumulating dirt
Sat an unwrapped, half-sucked candy-lonely and hurt
After some jostling it was soon joined by a friend
A half-a-piece of gum-crisp and unable to bend
Yet Ruth carried her tote with extreme pride
This great woman and her past is revealed inside
I just hope I'm around to share in the glory
The day Grandma's purse tells its story.
Dawni 12/88
Vocabulary taught by Grandma:
Devan, pickle lilly, oleo, dinner bucket, rouge, provokes, Jap silk, WW bread, mispronunciation of pizza, (we all know the vocabulary she taught Tamara with the pheasant) GR: "Love your brother and sister. I would have given anything to have one. The Bible says to love one another."
Harrison: "We don't have a Bible"
GR: "You should love one another. You need to act more Christian-like."
Harrison: "We're not Christians, we're Methodists."
