Ruth Estelle Kroh was born June 10, 1911 at 6 AM in Osseo, MI to Gladys Katherine Burdick and Alfred Alonzo Kroh. Ruth married Lyle Robert Baker 17 NOV 1928, and was buried next to him in Sunset View Cemetery in Jonesville, MI after her death on October 4th, 1992.

Ruth was born at the family farm on Pleasant Lake Road, Jefferson Township, Hillsdale County, Osseo, Michigan. She was named after her mother's Auntie Ruth AKA Rhoda Ruth Ellsworth (Nash). Rhoda and her husband had reared Ruth's mother Gladys, and the family was very close. Rhoda Ruth had a daughter, Mable Estelle Nash, which is likely where the Estelle came from. When Ruth was small, her nick-name was "Lutie". People said she resembled her mother, Gladys, who was twenty years of age at the time of Ruth's birth. She weighed eight pounds and had blue eyes and brown hair. She was said to have been a good, even tempered child.

She received the following note from "Auntie" about the day she was born:

Auntie's Home
Hillsdale, Mich
June 10-"18

Dearest Ruth-

Seven years ago this A.M. I saw the sweetest live baby doll, with just a rose bud of a mouth. That this precious baby must have a name we knew full well, so we talked it over and called her Ruth Estelle in spite of the envy of an aunt named Belle. (Rhoda Ruth Ellsworth was (Ruth's Grandmother) Ida May Ellsworth's sister, as was Belle.)

Her mouth was so little and so sweet she could hardly manage her dinner to eat. But she tried and she cried and she tried again, till she got as plump as an old fat hen, and now she is seven and we are so glad she has never gone to heaven. Now I did want her on yesterday when in our church was children's day. Why I sat and clinched my fist because she was not on the list. Alfreda Marie on the cradle roll was read and so was Virginia "Margareet" but no little Ruth so sweet. Wasn't it enough to vex a saint-and make them say ‘taint fair, so it ‘taint. Uncle hasn't been to town to hunt the candle sticks down and his eyesight is so little he'd be greatly bothered to whittle it down to see them at all because they are so very small. So we'll enclose a thrift stamp instead then someday when you come yourself you can look along the shelf in the candlestick store and to the clerk you can nod you head and say yes'm I'll take some more then add that to your store of gifts. Give my love to Virginia and tell her when her birthday comes Auntie will write her a letter for I love her as well but not better. Good bye sweet heart. Much Love, Auntie.

In Ruth's baby book, Gladys reported that she said her first word at age 7 months…"Da da dad daddy". She weighed 21 pounds, and started cutting her first tooth at about that time. At 10 months, she was waving "Bye-Bye"and at age 19 months, she ate at the table, liked potatoes but not bread, and her mother wrote that her father was the same way at one time. She had an impressive vocabulary, and was prone to say "pretty pretty pretty pretty" over and over in addition to "kitty", "cookie", "mama", "papa", and "peeze". Gladys noted that she "loved her Grandma Kroh nearly to pieces". One day, Gladys found Ruth in the middle of the dining room table after she had climbed onto some chairs. She was a helpful child, and ran to get the dust pan when her mother swept the floor, and pointed to where the oil was kept when it was time to fill the lamps. Once, when Ruth was three years of age, Gladys was singing "What's the Matter with Father" and Ruth started singing along.

The family lived on a farm when Ruth was small. They had a big yellow brick house with a screened-in porch in which to play on rainy days. The farm house had nine rooms; living room, dining room, kitchen, large pantry, a parlor, and three bedrooms upstairs and one down. It also had an attic.
The people who lived on the farm were Ruth and her sisters, Gladys and Alfred, Ruth's Grandma and Grandpa and a hired man.

Ruth's room was about 12X12. It had two windows and a clothes closet. It was furnished with her bed, a rocking chair, a dresser, and a bed for her favorite doll.

The family used oil lamps for light in the evenings, and Mother Gladys used a tub and washboard to wash the family's clothing. They used oil or wood to cook with, and used cast iron skillets and pots on the stove to cook. During the cold Michigan winters, the house was heated with coal and wood. In the summer, the family kept cool by opening the screened windows.

Ruth remembered "butcher'n time" at the farm when she was young. When the weather got "cool enough to stay that way", her father and grandfather would set the day they would do the butchering. Some of the neighbors would come to help, and four or five hogs would be butchered in one day. They would render lard in a big kettle in the back yard. Brine would be prepared to make hams, bacon, and some pork shoulders in preparation for smoking. They kept some chops, loins, and other parts for fresh eating; other parts cut up for cold pack canning, jowls and ears cut up for scrapple, sausage meat was taken to a store for grinding and seasoning, then brought back home packed into crocks and baked in the oven. Ruth remembers the cracklings from the lard was kept in lard cans and added to recipes or eaten plain. Some was given to the farm dogs for treats. All the neighbors for miles around would share the liver, chops, and so on. The pig's feet were pickled. Ruth said, "Just about everything was used but the whistle."

Ruth's Family Scrapple Recipe

2 cups pork
1 ½ t salt
1/8 t sage
1/8 t marjoram

½ t pepper
2 C cornmeal
2 C white or whole wheat flour


Boil pork in 4 quarts of water. Drain, reserving broth. Grind meat very fine. Bring broth to boil. Add seasonings. Mix flour and corn meal and add to broth. Add meat. Cook 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour into loaf pans and chill. Slice and fry to serve.

Ruth became an older sister first when her beloved sister Virginia was born in 1915, and again in 1917 when dear little Alfreda was born. The three sisters fought occasionally, but overall, they were extremely close throughout their entire lives and were not only sisters but the very best of friends. As the saying goes, when one was cut, the other ones bled. When they were senior citizens, they referred to themselves as the "Three Old Krohs".

Grandson Lance remembers the non-stop laughter whenever they were together.

When Ruth was very small, her favorite birthday gift was a doll, which had come all the way from China. Her favorite item in her house was a glass paperweight with flowers in it.

Not to say that Ruth was spoiled, but here is a list of her Christmas gifts when she was seven:

1. A nice dress from Estelle
2. A story book
3. Door Games
4. A flower from Auntie
5. Third Reader
6. A Box of pencils from Grandma
7. A Toilet Box (back then, "toilet" was used to indicate articles used when grooming oneself) from Mother
8.Riley Child Rhymes
9. A tablet
10. Red White and Blue Tablet and Colors
11. 4 thrift stamps from Daddy
12. 1 Thrift Stamp from Marie
13. Box of Handkerchiefs from Frances
14. Box of Handkerchiefs from Mother
15. 1 (?) from Nettie Smith
16. leggings from Mother and Daddy
17. Pair of mittens from Mother and Daddy
18. two pair of stockings from Grandma
19. Cloth for white silk dress from Grandma
20. Beautiful Hair Ribbon from Mama
21. Beautiful Hair Ribbon from Estelle
22. Bottle of perfume from Grandma
23. Pair of bloomers from Aunt Lois
24.Tube of Colgate Dental Crème from Elsie
25. School bag from Mama and Alfreda
26. Doll from Mama
27. Drawing and painting set from Virginia
28. Patent leather belt from Daddy and Mother

In 1919, all three girls came down with whooping cough about two weeks before Christmas.
Ruth with doll "Barbara"

Ruth had a lot of dolls and toys, which she shared with her younger sisters. Her favorite doll was one she called Rosie. She also remembered a puzzle which was a map of the United States. The games she remembered included Hide and Seek, Who's Got the Button, Hide the Thimble and "Giant Steps" (also known as "Mother May I?"). Ruth and her sisters were active and enjoyed roller skating and running races back and forth to the barn from the house. When Ruth got angry, she would take Rosie and hide in the barn. One of Ruth's favorite tales was how one day little sister Virginia was playing in the barn and got bird lice in her hair. Ruth was supposed to have been watching her, and wasn't. Her punishment? Having to wash her sister's hair with kerosene.

When Ruth and her sisters were young on the farm, they rode in horse drawn buggies or wagons in the summer, and in the winter, a horse drawn sleigh. The train was a favorite method of transportation for long journeys. Over her lifetime, she saw the modes of transportation change from those pulled by horses or other animals to automobiles and airplanes.

When Ruth was small, she had to be home in the evenings by 8PM. When she got older, the time was moved to 10:30, and in high school, 11:30 on weeknights and 1:30 AM on weekends.

Because she lived on a farm, Ruth made pets of the barn cats, and she had a collie dog named Rex, which was her own dog before her sisters arrived.

At the age of 12, Ruth began receiving an allowance for her weekly chores. It was twenty five cents per week. She thought that was a lot of money, and would often buy a new doll with her allowance. To supplement this income, her grandmother would pay her one cent for every fly
she killed. (Her son Michael was offered the same deal, but would let the flies in so he could kill them, but that is another story.) Her chores included dusting the furniture, gathering the chicken eggs in a basket, feeding the chickens, keeping her room clean and ironing the kitchen towels. Ruth was not always a model daughter, and on occasion would be spanked with a razor strop or be sent to her room. The naughtiest thing she ever did was to open the barn door and let all the pigs escape. She said that sometimes her parents grounded her if she did not mind her mama, clean her room, do the dishes or practice the piano. Like most children, she argued about her bed time.

She had a best friend, and they would have lots of fun playing together, going to the show and playing games. Sometimes they would have "spats" and then kiss and make up. (She did not name this friend.) Sometimes the boys would bully her, and her mother told her that boys did that when they liked a girl. Sometimes she would have a friend over to spend the night, and they would whisper and talk until nearly morning.

When she was in grade school, Ruth attended a one room school house. (Later, her school was converted into a home, and subsequently burned.) All the grades from one to eight were in the same room. The teacher's desk and the "recitation area" were elevated at the front of the room. The desks were graduated in size; the smallest ones in the front for the lower grades. At the back of the room, to one side was a big furnace and wood box that the boys had to keep filled. On the other side of the room from the furnace was a water bucket and dipper, and a pencil sharpener. Twice a day, the children would line up and have a drink from the bucket of fresh well water, all drinking from the same dipper. They had recess in the morning, and then again at noon time. At the front of the school house, on the outside, coats and outdoor clothing were hung in the fall and spring. In the winter, clothing was hung inside. There were shelves on each end, one for boys and one for girls, where lunch pails were set. Lunch consisted of sandwiches of homemade grape jelly on homemade bread with homemade butter. Brown sugar cookies or pie or cake were enjoyed…all made from scratch. Fresh fruit or little jar of home canned fruit, and sometimes a piece of fried chicken were also common. In the winter, the children would bring a potato, and the teacher would place them around the fire pit to bake while morning lessons were recited. Sometimes raw chicken was baked, too. Each child would bring their own home churned butter and some salt for the potatoes. Items from home were wrapped in waxed paper. When nature called, the children had to raise their hands to go outside to the "Chic Sales",( "Chic Sale" was a rural slang synonym for privies (outhouses), an appropriation of famous comedian/actor Charles" Chic Sale ", a name that he personally considered unfortunate.)

Some children lived as far as five miles from the school, and they had to walk to school, winter, spring and fall. Ruth was lucky, and only lived about a mile and a half from the little brick school house. Summers were "vacation time" when the children worked on the family farm, helping with the livestock and crops.

The school bell at the school was a real bell, not an electric bell or buzzer. The seventh and eighth grade boys were in charge of ringing the bell. There was a first bell, last bell, and tardy bell, which the children tried to avoid.

Every morning in school, the class recited the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. The one-room school house resulted in a system in which the children all learned from each other. The younger children had overheard the older children's lessons for several years before they got to them, and the older children had previous lessons reinforced when the smaller children did their lessons. The school examinations were rigorous, especially passing from eighth grade to high school. Ruth also attended the Paul Revere grade school in Hillsdale and Strathmoor grade school in Detroit.

For her high school years, Ruth attended Highland Park High by Detroit, and later Hillsdale High. The family moved around a good deal, looking for work following the Great Depression.

Ruth nearly always got good grades. Her favorite subjects were reading, spelling, biology, and geography. She disliked arithmetic, Latin, and Caesar. She usually walked to school, or sometimes would roller skate there. Once in a while she would "play hooky", but got good grades anyway. She enjoyed sports, and was on the Strathmoor basketball team, the varsity team, and the swim team. When she was little, she enjoyed wading in the water, but her mother was afraid of her doing so, as she had a fear of water, so it is somewhat surprising that she learned to swim well enough to join a team. Ruth liked to watch the soft ball, baseball, football and basketball teams play, with baseball being her favorite. She graduated from Hillsdale High School, class of 1928.

On Saturdays, Ruth, her sisters and her friends would go to the movie in town for 10 cents a head, usually Western serials. . After the movie, the group would go home and act out the parts until the following Saturday. Virginia was usually the heroine, and the little boy across the street
was the hero.

In 1927, when Ruth was sixteen years of age, the very first spoken voice in a feature film was heard. The voice belonged to Al Jolson and the ground breaking movie was The Jazz Singer. The first words ever spoken in a movie were, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet!"

In town, the fire department had a big bell in a tower which rang to call men to come and fight a fire. The fire horses were beautifully trained.

Ruth was not allowed to talk to her friends on the telephone, because it cost too much money. The first telephone systems served customers in towns only. Beginning around 1900, farmers began to organize their own telephone systems. They strung phone lines from one farm home to another and purchased small electrical generators to provide the electrical power. They could only call the homes in their phone network; they could not call homes in towns or farm homes not on their network. Farm telephones were on "a party line." That meant that anyone on the line could listen to any call that was being made, even if the call was not intended for that home. To place a call on a farm system, the caller turned a crank to produce a series of long and short rings. These rings were heard on all the phones on the system, not just the phone of the home being called. Each telephone had its own special pattern of long and short rings. For example, one might be three long rings and one short ring. When a family heard the phone ring its own signal, they would answer. If other families wanted to listen in, however, they could quietly pick up their telephones and hear the conversation. There were many stories about farm gossip spreading quickly because of uninvited ears listening on the party line. Eventually, farm systems were merged with those in the near-by towns and farm families got rid of the party lines.

Ruth learned to cook when she was a small child, at her mother's side. The first thing she cooked was French toast, which she said was both easy and tasty. Her grandmother also helped teach her, and she had cooking lessons in school, too. She remembered that one day she made mashed potatoes, and they turned out black! (If the container used for boiling is aluminum or iron then the potatoes may turn black.) However, she remembers her biggest cooking disaster as making enough beef stew to feed an army, and they ate it "until it was coming out of our ears!" Her favorite recipe was for raisin cake. Husband Lyle's favorite was a filled cookie. She also enjoyed scrambled egg sandwiches, which "Mother Baker" made.

Ruthie's Raisin Cake

Boil one cup of raisins in two cups of water, until one cup of liquid is left. Cool. Mix together one cup of sugar, ½ cup of shortening, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon allspice, ¼ teaspoon cloves, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, 2 C sifted flour, the one cup of cooled liquid and the plumped raisins. After you have mixed everything, pour it into a pan and bake at 350 one hour or until done. Frost with white frosting. This is the recipe as Ruth wrote it. She said it was from "Grandma Kroh", and I think she was talking about Frances (Parmelee) Kroh.

Lyle's Favorite Filled Cookies
Cookie Dough

1 C sugar
½ C shortening
1 egg
½ C milk
3 ½ C flour
3 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t vanilla


Filling

½ C sugar
1 T flour
1C ground raisins
½ C water


Cookies: Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Mix all in order given. Roll out thin, and cut. Place on greased pans. Place a teaspoon of filling on each cookie, not allowing it to spread to the edges. Place another cookie on the top. Press edges together and bake in moderate oven (380-390).
Filling: Mix sugar and flour together. Add remaining ingredients, and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Dates, figs, prunes, apricots or marmalades may be used in place of the raisins if desired.

If you ask anyone who knew her well, Ruth's very favorite thing in the world was her family. She was devoted to her parents, her sisters, her husband, her children, and her grandchildren. Here are some of her other favorites:

Colors: Brown, orange and beige
Book: Michael O' Haloren (Sentimental story of an orphan boy who was taught by his mother before she died how to survive on the streets. He avoids being sent to an orphanage, makes a modest living, and later "adopts" a young orphan girl with a disability before she can be sent away to the orphanage.)
Movie: Sunny Boy; (oddly enough, I can find nothing on this movie; the only Sunny Boy movie was produced after Ruth's death, and the movie "Sonny Boy" is a sick and twisted tale that I can't picture her enjoying.)
Song: Stardust
Sports: Basketball and Baseball
Hobbies: Tube painting (liquid embroidery), ceramics, writing, pen pals
Seasons: Fall and Spring
Holiday: Christmas
Flower: Roses
Candy: cocoanut
Cookie: Ginger
Ice Cream: Vanilla
Vacation: Upper Michigan with her husband Lyle.
Celebration: Grandchildren's birthdays.
Perfume: White Shoulders
Soap Opera: The Young and the Restless

Ruth also was very fond of frogs, which reminded her of her father, who collected them.

As a child, Ruth hated licorice, but when she was a grandma, she loved it.

Holidays brought special memories for Ruth. On Valentine's Day, Ruth and her sisters would make cards to give out to their friends and family. The neighbor boy would take the opportunity to show little Ruth his affection by picking wildflowers in the woods and giving her a bouquet.

On Easter, the Easter Bunny would visit and leave a basket of treats.

Ruth's mother's birthday was on April Fool's Day, and every year the girls would play tricks on her.

The fourth of July was a big celebration, with the town having a big fireworks show. The Kroh sisters would have firecrackers and sparklers.

The sisters enjoyed playing tricks on the unsuspecting friends and neighbors at Halloween. The girls would make their own outfits up. There may have been Witches, Ghosts and Goblins about, but little Ruth was not afraid of them…except when she was very small.

On Thanksgiving, the entire family would come together…aunts, uncles, cousins…and they would share turkey and laughter. Ruth's mother was a very good cook, and Ruth especially enjoyed "Bear's Soup". I found a recipe for Bears Soup online, and it claims to be "minus the bear". At the time Ruth was young, they may well indeed have had it with the bear. Sport hunting of black bears was first regulated when Ruth was fourteen, when the Michigan legislature declared the species a game animal. Prior to 1925, bears could be taken at any time and by any means. Now bears are mainly found in the upper peninsula, but their populations are making a comeback.

Bear Soup

1 (1 lb) package beef stew meat
1 large onion , chopped
salt and pepper
1 (6 ½ ounce) can tomato juice
1 (15 1⁄3; ounce) can corn
1 (14 ½ ounce) can green beans , drained
½ cup butter or ½ cup margarine
4 -5 large potatoes , peeled and cubed


Directions:
In 5-quart Dutch oven add stew meat, onion, salt and pepper.
Cover meat with water about 3 inches above meat.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer until meat is tender and a nice broth has formed.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.

At Christmas, Ruth would help make Christmas goodies, including brown sugar and ginger cookies, and divinity fudge. Dad Alfred would trek into the woods and cut down a tree to decorate. They would string popcorn and cranberries to circle the tree, plus a colorful paper chain, icicles, and a big star on the top. The tree was lit with real candles. Santa would visit their house every Christmas Eve after everyone was sleeping, and he would gobble up the cookies and milk that had been left for him. On Christmas morning, the stockings would be found filled with little sample bottles of perfume, apples, nuts, and usually a new dolly peeking out the top. For Christmas, the whole family would gather…Grandma, Mom Gladys and Aunts would have made pumpkin pies, turkey and all sorts of other goodies. The cousins would go outside and make big snowmen, and roll in the snow themselves. It was great fun!

Family "vacations" usually involved visiting grandparents. Ruth had one in the city and one in the country, and equally enjoyed both. When Ruth was twelve, she made a trip by herself, to visit a cousin of her grandfather's. She rode the train, and she was frightened that she would miss the station where she was supposed to get off the train. The conductor, however, made sure she did not miss her stop.

It was a family tradition to visit the Hillsdale County Fair every year. When the girls were young, they would ride the Merry-Go-Round, the Ferris Wheel, the Whip, and others. On Tuesdays, children got into the fair for free. Ruth said, "There is something magical about them. I've gone to County Fairs since I can remember. Grandma and Mother would pack a lunch, fried chicken, potato salad, homemade bread and butter, hard boiled eggs and/or deviled, cake and a boughten* ice cream cone or sandwich. We would get long rides on the Merry Go Round or more daring Ferris Wheel for five cents. Not many things cost more than five cents in those days. My mother had some friends, sisters, who had a stand at the fair every year and they sold ice cream sandwiches, five cents each. I was so thrilled that when I got old enough that mother let me work in their stand to help them. I received the huge sum of fifty cents a day. One year I remember saving all my money, $3.00 for the week, and I bought a winter coat, all by myself! Our church had a huge dining hall, and all the food was donated by church members, and women and men alike slaved to prepare the meals, complete with homemade pies, all for fifty cents! Meals were served by us young folks of the Sunday School. Those were some days. The streets of the midway weren't paved and the fair closed at dark, as that was before they had night fairs. Oh, I can't forget the candy apples, ugh!

My memories of the fair. I still can't eat one, for some reason they make me deathly ill."
(For some reason, the sight of hair in a sink had the same effect on her.) When possible, even when the sisters were senior citizens, they would travel to Michigan and go to the Hillsdale County Fair.

*"Boughten": American regional dialects allow freer adjectival use of certain past participles of verbs than does Standard English. A time-honored example is boughten (chiefly Northern U.S.). People who lived on farms during that era referred to their mid-day meal as "dinner" and the evening meal as "supper". Ruth also referred to her sunglasses as "colored glasses" and her purse was her "pocket book".

When Ruth was fourteen years of age, she had her first date, who picked her up in a horse and buggy. Ruth was a sensible young woman, and her parents usually approved of her dates.

One of the people who had the biggest influence on Ruth was her minister. He told her if she worked very hard, she could become anything she wanted. He also advised her to believe in her savior Jesus, and to pray every day. When she was young, she sang in the church choir.

When Ruth was young, she either wanted to be a missionary in Africa or a nurse. She became an L.P.N., and nursed the sick for over thirty years before she had to retire due to a broken neck. She worked at several hospitals, including Hillsdale and Foote Hospital East in Jackson, and St. Paul's Hospital in Vandercook Lake. Although she loved nursing, she regretted not having gone into missionary work. Another wish she had was to have enough money to give her beloved family everything and anything they wanted.

During and after the Great Depression, Ruth's father had a difficult time providing for his family. He moved from Hillsdale to Detroit, and back, doing whatever work he could find. The family never went without food, because of the grandparent's farms.

When Ruth lived in Detroit, every Saturday night, her parents would take her and her sisters "window shopping." They always got a Sunday paper, and each girl would be treated to a pickle from the big pickle barrel. Then the girls would suck on the pickles, and they would all go home and read the paper.

When Ruth was fifteen years old, her grandfather taught her to drive. He took her to the hayfield, where he said she could not hurt anyone. Ruth did not buy her own car until she was 32 years of age. She called her car Henrietta. Later she would have a car she called the Blu Gnu, and another, the Grey Ghost.

Ruth first met her future husband Lyle at the gas station where he worked, in Jonesville, MI. She was fifteen, and he was eighteen. She would let the air out of the tires of her car, and drive it to the gas station to have Lyle fill the tires again. They started dating, and soon he became her only beau. On their first date, Lyle took her to a movie, and afterwards kissed her goodnight. They loved to go to dances, and Lyle was a very good dancer. They usually went to neighboring Allen, Michigan, west of Jonesville. They usually went square dancing. Lyle was a popular partner, and all the girls liked to dance with him (so much so that sometimes Ruth had to wait her turn!).Ruth particularly enjoyed dancing the Charleston, Waltzing, and the Tango.

She remembered the fashions of the day always changing…zoot suits for men, derby hats and canes, wearing long dresses, then a short time later, short was the style.

When Lyle was courting Ruth, he stopped by to take her for a ride in a horse and buggy. Little sister Virginia threw a fit and insisted on going along. Gladys said she could, so she scrambled up and plopped herself right between the two young lovers. At about this same time, little Virginia and Alfreda would put milk bottles in back of the storm door, so when Ruth came home, she would knock over all the milk bottles and make a racket. One time the two rascals hid and listened to Lyle and Ruth say goodnight after an evening out. Ruth said, "You know Lyle, for every kiss, you kill a Chinaman!". He replied, "Let's wipe out the whole race!". At first, Alfred and Gladys did not like Lyle very much, but they saw how happy he made Ruth, and as her happiness was their first priority, they soon came to accept him. Lyle asked Ruth to be his bride, and she thinks this happened at the gas station where he first stole her heart. Her reply? "Maybe."

They married 17 Nov 1928 in Jonesville, when Ruth was seventeen years of age. Ruth had been reared as a Baptist, but Lyle was a Methodist,so she joined that church.

Lyle eventually became the owner of a gas station in Hillsdale, and he worked long and hard. Ruth would pack him two meals, as he would be gone all day. Sometimes she would only pack him one meal, and she would gather up the kids and they would all go in the wagon to the gas station to eat dinner with their father.

The couple had six children, three of which lived to adulthood. The eldest son, Robert Neal was born 16 Jun 1929. He died at the age of four from leukemia. Their eldest daughter, Eleanor Ruth, was born 29 Dec 1932, and
died at the age of eight when she was struck by a truck while playing in front of the family home. Ruth had a miscarriage of another child, but I do not know the date. Phillip was born in 1934, Michael was born in 1941, and little Cara was born in 1947.

Clubs and organizations Ruth belonged to over the years included Campfire Girls, Home Extension Club, Practical Nurse Association (where she served as Secretary, Vice President, and then President), various church circles, and Bible Study groups. Ruth was an honorary member of the Air Defense Team, a member of the Ground Observer Corps, a member of the National Registry of Medical Secretaries, and a "Slims" club member. She was also a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts. She was a two gallon blood donor (A positive). One of her cards states that she was 5' 2" tall, weighed 150 pounds, and had brown hair and blue eyes.

Ruth's niece, Pat (Virginia's only child) lived with Ruth and her little family for a time, after Virginia divorced her first husband, and again when Pat's parents Virginia and Glenn (Glenn adopted Pat) were in Hawaii helping with the war effort. Pat remembers that time in her life with great fondness. She recalls going to the theater, a 25 cent matinee, with her cousin Phil. She said they were usually Western Serials that they enjoyed, much like the ones Ruth and her sister had watched years before. Pat and Phil would walk downtown to the theater. One hot summer day, the pair wandered into a hardware store while they were downtown. There was a big barrel full of colorful thimbles that intrigued them, and somehow a thimble found its way into each of their pockets. Then they went to the movie and on home. Ruth discovered their plunder and marched them both to the store to return their ill gotten gains and apologize to the clerk. It was a life lesson that always stuck with Pat. Ruth and Lyle bought bunk beds, so their little visitor would not have to sleep on the couch. One winter while Pat was staying with her aunt, she became very ill with whooping cough, and she remembers the tender loving care Ruth took of her. Pat returned the favor when she was older. She stayed and watched little Cara in about 1953 when Ruth was recovering from surgery. (Family seems to remember she had her gall bladder out about that time.) Pat and her husband Fremont (who worked in Tecumseh MI about that time) lived in a trailer which was parked in the Kroh yard. The entire family lived close by.

Ruth first became a Grandmother with the arrival of Phil's eldest son, Randy. She was filled with joy, and each subsequent grandchild filled her heart anew. Her advice to her grandchildren follows:

"Always be loving and kind to others. Do not gossip about others. Be honest to others you deal with. Have high ambitions and reach them by studying hard. Be kind to those who are older and always honor your mom and dad."

Ruth and Lyle never fought, but family remembers them bickering, as long wed couples frequently do. One phrase that sticks in the minds of their children was, "Good Gawd, Ruth!". They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on October 1, 1978 at the United Methodist Church in Jonesville. Unfortunately, the building is no longer standing.

When Ruth was older, she remembers the Baker family having had gatherings at "Great Grandpa Baker's" house to celebrate New Year's with oyster stew, and also celebrate Grandpa's birthday, in January. (Clark Fletcher Baker was born 26 Jan 1852. I do not know why she called him "Great" grandpa, as he was Lyle's grandfather.)

When Lyle and Ruth sold the family farm on Lake Pleasant Road in Hillsdale County, the family moved to the city of Jackson. They lived on South West Avenue while son Michael was in high school, and then moved to Happy Valley Road, in the suburbs where they lived when Cara graduated. Ruth usually worked nights as a nurse.

As the years passed, the families lived farther apart. Ruth's sister Alfreda lived in Detroit with her family, and the families got together often. Virginia moved to Tennessee with her husband Glenn. When visiting Virginia, Ruth got involved with being a correspondent for Virginia's local paper, the Cocke County Banner in November of 1972. She had her own column, called "Baker's Acres". The column usually started with a prayer, sometimes included a joke or two, perhaps a poem, the news around her house and ended with a recipe. She was particularly fond of including old folksy sayings, and wondered where they came from. Included were: "Stick around, we'll open a keg of nails", and "He's so narrow minded, he can look through a key hole with both eyes." Ruth herself, when she went shopping, would refer to the store as one where she "traded"; which is an old rural saying; likely from the days when purchasing something did not always mean a cash transaction. Ruth always enjoyed writing, and kept a journal throughout her later years, starting after the death of her husband. The first journal is heartbreaking, detailing how much she loved and missed her Lyle. The later journals were mainly records of what she did during her day…what she ate, who she saw, and so on. One thing she wrote on the day of her 58th wedding anniversary was to Lyle, who had died in 1980: 17 Nov 86 58 yrs-Daddy, be with me tonite! Lyle, weather out there looks like it was, 58 yrs ago today. Oh, how I wish you were here. There are many times I feel so alone. In my heart, I know you are better off-no pain or infirmities-but we did have a good life, didn't we? I miss you, just the same. She also revealed in her journaling that she was having a loving (but as far as I can tell, platonic) relationship with her distant cousin, Harold, which I had suspected. After Lyle passed on, she did also have a relationship with a man named "Ed" who died.

Ruth always enjoyed poetry, a love passed from her mother, who was a poetess herself. Ruth did not write them, but clipped or copied those that touched her heart. She particularly was fond of those prayers and poems printed in "The Quiet Hour, a treasury of godly wisdom, suitable for personal or family devotions." One item she included in her column gives some indication of the love she gave her sons and grandsons:

What is a Boy?

Between the innocence of babyhood and the dignity of manhood, we find a delightful creature called a boy. Boys come in assorted sizes, weights and colors, but all boys have the same creed: to enjoy every second of every
minute of every hour of every day and to protest with noise (their only weapon) when their last minute is finished and the adult males pack them off to bed at night.

Boys are found everywhere---on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on,swinging from, running around or jumping to. Mothers love them, little girls ignore them, older sisters and brothers tolerate them, adults ignore them, and
Heaven protects them.

A boy is Truth with dirt on his face. Beauty with a cut on its finger,Wisdom with bubble gum in its hair and Hope of the future with a frog in its pocket.

When you are busy a boy is an inconsiderate, bothersome, intruding jangle of noise. When you want him to make an impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a savage, sadistic, jungle creature bent on destroying the
world and himself with it.

A boy is a composite---he has the appetite of a horse, the digestion of a sword swallower, the energy of a pocket-size atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the lungs of a dictator, the imagination of a Paul Bunyan, the shyness
of a violet, the audacity of a steel trap, the enthusiasm of a fire cracker, and when he makes something he has five thumbs on each hand.

He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, the boy across the street, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dads, trains,Saturday mornings and fire engines.

He is not much for Sunday school, company, school, books without pictures,music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.

None else is so early to rise or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs and breezes. Nobody else can cram in one pocket-a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, three feet of string, an empty Bull Durham
sack, two gum drops, six cents, a sling shot, a chunk of unknown substance and a genuine supersonic ring with a secret compartment.

A boy is a magical creature---you can lock him out of your kitchen, but you can't lock him out of your heart. You can get him out of your study, but not out of your mind.

Might as well give up---he is your captor, your jailer, your boss and your master. A freckled-faced, pint-sized, cat-chasing bundle of noise.

When you come home at night with only the shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams---he can mend them all like new with the two magic words----Hi MOM

Another is a bit of poetry wisdom:

Three Gates of Gold

If you are tempted to reveal
A tale to you someone has told
About another, make it pass,
Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates: First, "Is it true?"
Then, "Is it needful?" In your mind
Give truthful answer. And the next
Is last and narrowest, "Is it kind?"
And if to reach your lips at last
It passes through these gateways three,
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be.

After Lyle retired, the doctors advised them to move to a warmer climate for his health, so they
moved to Phoenix sometime around 1974, where their eldest living son, Phil resided.

When her children were grown and gone, Ruth would enjoy flying to visit them and spoil her grandchildren. One of her very favorite trips was to Alaska, where she visited her daughter Cara. That was the longest trip she ever took. She had also enjoyed a vacation out east, where she waded in the Atlantic Ocean and saw pygmy ponies. One of the biggest trips she took was with her sisters and their husbands, going to the west coast on a road trip in the mid 1940's.

All Ruth's grandchildren have great memories of her loving and generous heart. She would treat the kids to special pancakes, shaped like cars, snowmen, and hearts. She always had time to play games with them, and had a big stack of board games. Her days off from work were reserved not for rest or catching up with her housework, but for her grandchildren. She helped Mike raise his two children from his first marriage when the marriage fell apart and Mike moved home.

We always poked fun at her, because she never saw a gadget she could resist, especially if it was something for the kitchen. A special tool for buttering corn on the cob? Check. Something to squirt flavor into a chicken? Check.

Ruth was the kind of person who never let a friendship or relationship die, and even remained friends with her children's ex spouses (unless their behavior was appalling). Phil's ex wife Judy always sent her flowers for Mother's Day, even years after she was divorced. She was a very dear and loving person.

Before her life was over, Ruth broke many bones. The day I met her, she was in traction with a broken neck from an automobile accident. Mike immediately told her that he was planning on marrying me, and she started to cry. I was mortified, and later she insisted they were tears of joy, but seeing as how he had just finished with a second disastrous marriage, I have my doubts. She also tripped over a telephone cord and broke an arm, and ran over herself with her own car.

Ruth was in poor health in her later years, although she rarely complained. She suffered two strokes; one when she lived in Arizona, and one when she lived in Texas (near her son Mike). She had a hernia, and suffered from an enlarged heart. I saw the X ray they took of her chest shortly before she passed on, and her heart took up most of her chest cavity. I thought at the time, "Wow, I knew she had a big heart, but this is crazy!" Her family gathered ‘round her bed during her last days. Her final words were…"It's about time!".

Favorite Songs:

Stardust by Nat King Cole
Old Buttermilk Sky by Hoagie Carmichael

At one point, I sent my mother-in-law Ruth the following, which I found amongst her things after she passed. It may give you some idea of the wonderful person she was.

I wonder if you realize what a good example you are for others. The wonderful way you live your life, the unconditional kindness you show others, all the things that you do and that you are, touch the lives of the people around you.

You are so sincere in your beliefs, so determined to be the sort of person God wants us to be, that people are inspired by you. They see the satisfaction you get from your faith, from having the courage of your convictions, and it helps them try and live the same way.

It's all such a wonderful tribute to you and your way of life that I just had to tell you so. God must be very proud of you.

She is an inspiration to me to this day. She set the bar very high for being a mother-in-law, being honored with the title "Grandma Baker" and "GG"!

Ruth Estelle Kroh Baker—My Mother By Cara Baker Osmin

One of my fondest memories, and one of my first memories of mom, is sitting at the kitchen table at the farm eating a little cut up pear from the pear tree that mom had picked and peeled and cut up for me and placed on a doll plate. I was eating with a doll fork. Another memory is of her endlessly giving me my eye exercises to strengthen my right eye after surgery. My eye was pulled outward and the surgery cut the muscles on the outside of the eyeball to relax them…so to strengthen the muscles on the inside of my eye, there was a large headed pin on the end of an eraser that mom would draw in and out with me focusing on the pin to strengthen the muscles on the inside of the eyeball. Well, it must have worked because I have no trouble focusing now.

Mom, as I now reflect on her, was a person who kept a lot to herself. She was the one who sacrificed in order to spoil me rotten! Checks would arrive while in college to help out; secrets were kept forever between us; love was unconditional. I never really appreciated how good mom was with older people until I visited her at the nursing home where she worked (this was while I was in college). As we walked down the hallway the people who were there sitting in wheelchairs, walking with walkers, just beamed when they saw her. She always had a kind word for them. It hit me then what a kind, wonderful woman she was.

Lots of times, while growing up, we had our differences …just as any mother and daughter. There were things I wanted to do and she was dead set against it. Sometimes she would win, but I usually ended up doing what I wanted to do. Case in point was when I won a ticket from the local radio station to the Beatles Concert in Detroit the summer of 1964. For one thing, mom or dad would have to take me there since I didn't have my driver's license yet, and I'd have to go by myself…in that crowd of people. Can you imagine? She said no…no way…not at all. My Aunt Fritzie (mom's sister) saved me! She told mom that if she didn't allow me to go, she would regret it for the rest of her life. Mom needed to get over it and let me have this adventure. Hooray for Aunt Fritzie! I did attend the concert…it was a dream…one I remember to this day…and yes, dad's car overheated waiting in the long line of cars to pick me up after the concert—but, oh, the memories!
One time mom and dad were having a heated discussion—I don't even know what it was about, but her comeback was, "OH, you are as stubborn as a Baker." I'm not sure why, but it struck all of us as one of the funniest things we'd heard and all of us laughed for a long time – and we'd bring it up any other time there were any discussions happening. Then there was the time I was visiting them in Arizona – mom and dad bickered a lot, probably as any couple who had been together for 50 years. One time after she had served a breakfast of his usual eggs, bacon and toast dad remarked to me, "You know, I really don't care for eggs fried in the bacon grease." He had never told mom that!!!! So, my being the helpful daughter told mom. The outcome was that mom was appalled that he never told her, but he didn't have his eggs fried in grease any more either.
After my growing up, having a child of my own (and an only child at that) I am absolutely baffled how mom went on in life after losing two of her children—one to a reckless driver and one to leukemia. If those two had lived to adult lives as Phil, Mike and I, she would have unconditionally loved us all the same—we (Phil, Mike and I) would always get her flustered when we'd start going round and round her saying, "Mom, admit it—you always like Mike best." Then Mike would pipe in, "No, Mom—you always like Phil best." And Phil would come back by saying, "That's not true, you always liked Cara best." All in all, she liked all of us best and I miss her every day, without question.

Jotted Memories of Grandma by Granddaughter Michele Baker Webb

I remember how great she was attending my 1st grade classes when the teacher needed assistance... She would bring cupcakes for no reason at all and when the students made her thank you cards, she saved every one! (Big surprise, eh?) She always read me bedtime stories until I would fall asleep. Our faves were Little Black Sambo and Chicken Little. I remember her picking me up from school because I was so sick and feeding me ginger ale and ginger snap cookies while letting me watch as much Speed Racer and Underdog as I wished. I remember laughing so hard with her that I thought my guts would literally burst from my stomach! Hahahaha!

Once I heard a crash at my bedroom window and told Gma about it... We went outside to investigate and found a poor little bird with a broken neck! Gma got a shoe box and wrapped the bird in a cloth handkerchief and we buried it in the back yard under my bedroom window. She told me that the bird's spirit would guard me against whatever or whoever I was afraid of under the bed. After that I no longer felt I had to take a running jump into bed at night. (I always thought a hand was going to come out and grab my ankles so I would take a flying leap!)

I remember her marking her Tupperware bowls with colored tape. Not sure why but I did always pick the ones with pink tape! She would make us pancakes in whatever shape we wished. One morning I wanted snoopy on top of his dog house and I'll be darned if she didn't make it to a tee!!!
Once we made marshmallow men with toothpicks and took them to the Senior Center where she worked and handed them out to the patients there. She put a lot of smiles on a lot of folk's faces, that's for sure! I remember how she LOVED to watch the Tigers play baseball and LIVED to see the Tiger teeth growl on the TV when they hit a home run! She would just squeal with delight!

She prayed with me and gave me my first Bible. We made a rag doll out of an old dish towel and she let me draw the face with a marker. I loved it so much she let me make rag dolls out of all her dish towels! (Or so it seemed!) We made a LOT!! Then she helped me pack them all up in the wagon so I could give them a ride around the block! Oh, my gosh! She was just so much fun all the time! Oh yeah, and JELLO!!!! She ALWAYS had a supply ready to eat in the fridge! ALWAYS!!!! She also introduced me to fried smelt. I thought it was so cool I could eat the head, bones and all! She was the first one to show me how to make a rainbow with the water hose. Oh yeah, and Dixie Riddle Cups! We always read the riddles every time she would get me a drink with one.

She so loved to laugh and I'm sure that is why it's one of my favorite things to do!!!! I remember sitting on her lap while she rocked me in her favorite rocking chair while she tickled and scratched my back. Oh, my but it felt like heaven!!! She WAS heaven to me.... And I'm certain that is where she is NOW! And I can't wait to see her again! I haven't cried for her in a long time.... But thinking about her now makes me ball my head off missing her sooooooo much!!!! I hope she can see how VERY HAPPY I am and how grateful I am to have had her for my Grandma!

Her son Michael said what he admired most about his mother was her caring nature. He also mentioned that his favorite things she cooked were potato soup, oyster stew (a New Year's Eve tradition) and sloppy joes.

A few words of wisdom from "Ruthie":

“The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.

To lose one's wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one's health is more,
To lose one's soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.

The present only is our own,
So live, love, toil with a will,
Place no faith in "Tomorrow,"
For the Clock may then be still.”

― Robert H. Smith

Favorite Songs:

Stardust by Nat King Cole
Old Buttermilk Sky by Hoagie Carmichael