Ruth H. (Hess) Routson

Ruth H. Routson (nee Ruth Marie Hess), age 104, reached the end of her life on December 28, 2018, at StoryPoint in Troy, OH. 

She was born March 9, 1914, on the farm of her grandparents (George and Minnie Johnson) in Newberry Township, Miami County, now part of the county park system known as Maple Ridge.  She attended Blind Corner School and graduated from Bradford High School in 1931. 

On June 1, 1935, Ruth married M.L. Routson at her father’s farm near Bradford.  They lived at several locations in Miami County before moving to Troy in 1948 where she has lived the past 70 years.

Ruth worked as the Concord School secretary where her husband was a teacher and principal.  She was a long-time member of Friedens Lutheran Church near Bradford and later of First Lutheran Church in Troy.  She was also a member of the Troy Mothers’ Study Club.  M.L. and Ruth enjoyed extensive travel throughout the United States and served as chaperones for the special high school choir, the “Trojanaires,” when it traveled.  In her later years, Ruth developed macular degeneration and began listening to audio books, which numbered in the many hundreds.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Walter (1972) and Fannie (1934) Johnson Hess, her husband (1996) and two sons, John (2010) and Thomas (2010) and an older sister Nola Kniesly (1996).  She is survived by her son Donald and his wife Julia (nee Kauffman) and her two sons Chris and Jon Kirshbaum and family; a daughter-in-law Joyce Routson of Murietta, CA; a niece Carolyn Kniesly Smith and her husband the Rev. Donald R. Smith of Springfield, OH and their two sons Jeff and Matt and their families; a nephew Fred Kniesly of Winchester, KY and his five children and their families.  Other survivors include a niece-in-law Phyllis Rhoades Drieling, a special great-niece Karen Townley of Vandalia, OH and other great-nephews and nieces.

The funeral will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 2, 2019, at Fisher-Cheney Funeral Home, 1124 West Main Street, Troy, OH with the Rev. Donald R. Smith, officiating.  Visitation will be from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Wednesday preceding the service. Interment will be at Highland Cemetery, Covington.

Arrangements entrusted to Fisher-Cheney Funeral Home, Troy, OH. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.fishercheneyfuneralhome.com.

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