Memorial

Ruth V. Birnbaum, age 97, passed away peacefully on October 29, at Cottage Grove Place in Cedar Rapids, IA. She passed with family present. Kay, her youngest daughter spent many weeks towards the end of her mother’s life, advocating for her care. Kay enjoyed the support of her brother and sister throughout.

She is preceded in death by her husband, John D. Birnbaum, Jr. She was a wonderful mother to John (Terri) Birnbaum, III; Tina (Dave) Styf; Kay Birnbaum (Rick Martin), grandmother to John Birnbaum, IV; Andrea (Phillip) Stankard; Janet (Derek) Lajcin; Daniel Styf (Stefi Klepfer), and great-grandmother to John Birnbaum, VI and Jaxsen Birnbaum. 

A Christian service will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, 201 1st Avenue, Hiawatha, IA 52333 of which she has been a member for 62 years, Saturday, November 4, at 11:00am with a light lunch at church to follow the service. Reverend Kevin Zellers will officiate the service. Visitation will be held on Friday, November 3, 4-7pm at the Cedar Memorial Chapel State Room and at Zion Lutheran Church pre-service on Saturday, November 4, 10-10:45am.

She was born in Detroit and attended St. Steven’s Lutheran grade school, graduated high school and then attended Valparaiso University and then the University of Michigan Nursing School, which she managed to pay for herself. She worked at Hudson’s Department store, a resort in upstate New York and helped during the war effort working at Ford Motor Company as a bond proofer. 

She met her husband John while volunteering to serve a chili supper at the University of Michigan Lutheran Chapel. They married in February of 1950 and lived in Cleveland, OH, Marysville, MI and then moved to Cedar Rapids, IA in 1961. She worked as a nurse while in Cleveland. She would later return to work after raising her children, so that they could attend college.

Once they moved to Iowa, she stayed home to raise her children. The three of us were blessed that she was home when we needed our mom. She would be there if we were sick and couldn’t go to school, baking fresh cookies for John’s cross country track team while they were out practicing, loaning out the garage for homecoming floats and supplying cookies and snacks to all the workers, and helping us all with our homework when it came to writing or spelling. There was always room for one of our friends at the dinner table. Fond memories abound of family vacations camping around the United States and Canada, camping and visiting National Parks from coast to coast. She always had the Coleman stove fired up for a hot breakfast. What a wonderful smell it was! She loved to fish and many times she would catch the largest fish of anyone in the boat. That early morning fishing time was special to her. Ruth and John also enjoyed many overseas trips and even lived in the UK for a time. Having lasagna in the refrigerator, and cookies baked for her daughter Kay’s sewing weekend with friends when the house was loaned to them, were equally special. We were lucky to have parents that wanted to show their kids the world, even as they showed us love at home. We all now have that curiosity of travel and adventure, and their legacy of love.

She loved her grandchildren as well. Some special times she would talk about, included Andrea always sending her such lovely exotic flowers, Daniel for being such a good grocery shopper, and playing with pots and pans with John (IV) when he was young and keeping him occupied so his parents could sleep in. She enjoyed helping Janet with knitting and honing her skills which eventually surpassed her grandma’s. That is saying a lot because Ruth was very good at knitting and all of us were blessed to have sweaters knitted by her. It would be a rotation, so all family members benefitted. She especially enjoyed knitting sweaters for her great grandsons, John and Jaxsen, when they were young.

Along with everything she did for her family she also gave generously to her community in the form of volunteering. She volunteered at the Well Baby with the American Red Cross and helped teach CPR lessons. She was active in her church and attended Bible study. She also won the Volunteer of the Year Award presented to her by Governor Branstad for teaching the English language to foreigners. She also knitted caps for the homeless and donated them to many organizations as well as knitting kitchen towels she then gave away. 

We will miss our conversations with her where we would converse on any topic. It never ceased to amaze us how much a 97-year-old woman knew and how well she could talk about anything. Her intellect was always impressive and memory of events 60-70 years ago, spot on. She loved sports of all kinds and knew everything about her favorites, the Chicago Cubs, Iowa Football, Iowa Women’s basketball and Iowa men’s basketball. 

She was everyone’s mom, generous of heart and time. In general, she was a delight to be around as you always learned something new from her. 

In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to:
Concordia Seminary, 801 Seminary Place, St. Louis, MO 63105
Zion Lutheran Church, 201 1st Avenue, Hiawatha, IA 52333