Sioux City - Ruth Cecelia Bahney, 97, of Sioux City passed away Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, at a local nursing home following a brief illness.
Services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Morningside Chapel, Christy–Smith Funeral Home, with Chaplain Jon Moravec officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m., at the funeral home.
Ruth was born on June 30, 1915, in Battle Creek, Iowa, to Fred and Hannah (Sengelman) Hoffman. At the age of 13, she came to Sioux City where she was a nanny for a family, which enabled her to attend high school in Sioux City. She graduated from Central High School in 1933. She later worked as a bookkeeper for Michael Leonard Seed Company.
Ruth married Clarence Bahney on Dec. 3, 1938, at First Baptist Church in Sioux City. He passed away on July 21, 1999. Ruth and Clarence had seven children. She was an exceptional mother and homemaker and was also the bookkeeper for the family hardware store, Greenville Hardware.
She was a former member of the First Baptist Church in Sioux City. To Ruth, family was her number one priority. She enjoyed picnics, baking, cooking, reading and crocheting. She was a self-taught individual, with an interest in history and historical figures. She enjoyed traveling in her later years and spending summers with family at their cottage in Spirit Lake, Iowa.
Survivors include her children, Boyd and Cheryl Bahney of Sioux City, Janice and Clarence Lyons of Peachtree City, Ga., Dale and Mary Bahney of Omaha, Linda and Myron Babcock of Colorado Springs, Colo., Gayla and Terry Kendall of Spirit Lake, and Terry and Dr. Jean Bahney of Austin, Texas; a daughter-in-law, Carol Bahney of Sioux City; 17 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; two great-great-stepgrandchildren; and two brothers, Glenn Hoffman of Emerson, Ill., and Clifford Hoffman of Mt. Grove, Mo.
Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Clarence; son, D. Scott Bahney; parents; and siblings, Henry, Eunice, and Ferne.
Memorials may be made to Hospice of Siouxland and Sunrise Retirement Community.