Ruth Alene O’Dell has died at the age of ninety-nine.
She was born on 23 March 1924 in Clare, Michigan, the youngest of 6 children.
She lived through the entirety of the great depression, 1929-1940. It was during this time that she learned the lessons that she would follow for the rest of her ninety-nine years. Frugality, paying cash for what they needed, working until the job was finished, looking after, and caring for others less fortunate than herself, and foremost a deep and undying love for God and our Dad, John L. O’Dell. She practiced the teaching of the scriptures every day of her long life.
She was married for over seventy-one years to John L O’Dell, who died in 2013.
They met at the Clare County fair, and it was, as they say, love at first sight.
On 7 December 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked our nation went on a wartime footing. In 1942 she left her job as a long-distance operator for ATT, commonly called Ma Bell.
After leaving ATT she went to the Willow Run B-24 assembly plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan where she became a riveter on the “heavy bomber. She ultimately became an inspector of the bomber during its assembly.
During this time Dad, an 82nd Airbourne trooper explosives specialist, was headed for England and the European continent. After the war ended and when Dad came home, he told Mom that he liked being a paratrooper and would like to stay in. She quickly told him “Johnny we have had enough excitement in our lives.”
So, they started out their lives together with Dad going back to Dow for the next forty-one years and Mom staying home with their two children: Danny and Kathe. In 1954-56 they built their new home. She would wield a hammer right alongside Dad and our Grandpa O’Dell.
When her children were in school, she started working at the A&P store in Midland. After several years at A&P, she was hired as a cook at Midland High. After a short time, she became one of the school’s bakers. Her bread was breathtakingly delicious.
As a side note Kathe and I ate only homemade bread, pies, and other baked goods. Personally, I envied the kids who were eating store-bought bread and wondered why I had to eat homemade bread. It was later on in life I finally realized how lucky I was back then.
Each summer vacation, when the berries were ripe, she would put on her berry-picking face. This meant we, as in Kathe and I were going too, regardless of what we wanted to do. And it wasn’t going berry picking.
Later in her life…
When Dad retired, so did Mom. They took several cruise trips and for at least twenty-five years drove out to Nine Mile Falls, WA to visit Danny and his family, mostly to see their three grandchildren: Arica Jo, Wesley John, and Wyatt Michael.
She enjoyed working in her garden and yard, making quilts for her family and friends. She continued to be active in her church, the First Baptist Church in Midland.
And she still made the most delicious baked goods we ever had!
Our entire family would like to acknowledge the excellent care and give a deeply heartfelt thank you for the care she received from all of the compassionate staff at the Brookdale Senior Care here in Midland and to the fine end-of-life Careline Health Group associates for the empathetic care they gave to Mom during the end phases of her life.
It has been said that you never really grow up until your parents have died. We never wanted to grow up, but now we are the grown-ups.
I miss her and Dad. Kathe misses her and Dad.
A memorial service will be held 11:00 am Wednesday June 14, 2023 at the First Baptist Church, 915 East Sugnet Road, Midland, MI  48642.  Friends may call at the church on Friday starting at 10 am until the time of services.  A luncheon will follow.