Mary Ruth Petefish
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Memorial Services for Mary Ruth Petefish, 96, Lawrence, are pending and will be announced later by Warren-McElwain Mortuary. Private inurnment will be held at a later date in Pioneer Cemetery. She died Thursday, January 15, 2009, at Brandon Woods Retirement Community.
She was born on June 5, 1912, in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Gustave A. and Hattie Hospers Watermulder.
She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, and received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Kansas. She did graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Berkeley.
She formerly taught at Lawrence Junior High School. During WW II, she taught in Ogden, Utah High School while her husband, Olin, was stationed in the Army there.
She was a member of AZ Chapter of PEO Sisterhood; a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lawrence; a member of Tennola Literary Club; and a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. She was formerly active in Head Start; Beth Stone; Lawrence Memorial Hospital Auxiliary; Red Cross work; and active in the Lawrence Art Guild and Friends of Art at the University of Kansas.
She married Olin K. Petefish, on February 5, 1942, in Lawrence, KS. He preceded her in death on July 18, 2001.
Survivors include two daughters, Mary Ann Grumman, Evanston, IL, and Susan Elizabeth Gold, Colorado Springs, CO; a brother, David B.Watermulder, Waverly, PA; two grandsons and four step-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made in her name to KU Endowment Association or to the First Presbyterian Church of Lawrence and may be sent in care of the mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com; Subject: Petefish.