Ruth Jane (Allum) Kirkegaard, 83, of Sioux City passed away early Friday morning, July 26, 2013, at home with her family around her. Visitation will be Friday, August 2, 2013 from 6-8 pm with a prayer service at 7 pm at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel. A Memorial Service will be held at 10 am on Saturday, August 3rd, at First United Methodist Church in Sioux City.

Ruth was one of ten children born to Claude Ellsworth and Grace Mabel (Mc Connell) Allum on June 17, 1930. She grew up in Herrick, SD and graduated from Burke High School. After graduation, she moved to Sioux City where she met a blue-eyed, red-haired, downright handsome man, Phillip Clayton Kirkegaard. In 1949, the two married and began life together. They established a home on an acreage at the edge of Sioux City and were married for fifty-five years. The marriage yielded eight children.

In the common vernacular Ruth's occupation would be listed as a homemaker. That occupation means to her husband, she was his partner and soul mate - dreaming, planning, and establishing their life, home and family together. She was always at his side.

Ruth navigated road trips to visit children and grandchildren. She painted and detailed the many woodworking projects that Clayton designed and built. Ruth finished the projects with beauty and love. Ruth was also a font of wisdom to her children and grandchildren. She taught them to plant and grow flowers, can, pickle and freeze vegetables and fruits, bathe babies, style hair, cut up and fry a chicken, bake cinnamon rolls, make gravy, type a term paper, and countless other arts and skills of a fulfilling life.

Ruth had a myriad of interests. She loved to play scrabble, pinochle, and cribbage with family and friends. She collected stamps, coins, and plates with her children and grandchildren. She sewed curtains for her home and the homes of her children. She made pillows and blankets and sock monkeys for her grandchildren. She sewed clothes and Halloween outfits for her family and hemmed and patched endless pairs of jeans and overalls for her husband and kids.

Ruth also had a passion for sports of all kinds. She loved cardinals - both the baseball and bird variety. She spent endless hours in her weed patches filled with flowers – especially her roses. She treasured her dogs and animals of all kinds. Ruth gave the love of music and books to her children and documented their lives with her interest in photography.

Ruth was a strong and loving woman who will be greatly missed. To paraphrase Wilfrid Sheed, her loss is equivalent to that of a whole kingdom, yet we remain indecently rich with a legacy of our memories of her.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Phillip Clayton, her parents, two sisters, Shirley (Stanley) Hudlicky, and Wilma (Adrian) Andersen; five brothers, Lloyd, Claude (Esther), Kermit (Connie), Isaac, and Bennett Allum, one grandchild, Isaac Zebarth; one sister-in-law, Marian (Harold) Hintz, and four brothers-in-law, Leo (Florence), Robert, Virgil, and Paul (Patricia) Kirkegaard.

Memorials may be given in Ruth's name at Siouxland Palliative Care, 4300 Hamilton Blvd., Sioux City, IA 51104; The HEAR Foundation, 141 W. Jackson, Ste. 1404, Chicago, IL 60604; and Paws and Effect, P. O. Box 41442, Des Moines, IA 50311.

As Ruth would say at the end of conversations with her friends and family, "I love you," so we say to her, "We love you too."