Ruth M. Jackson

Due to the Coronavirus, the family requests visitors to wear masks and honor social distancing during visitation and the service.

Ruth Marie Grell Jackson was born January 27, 1949, to Leslie C.J. Grell and Eileen Grell in Ida Grove, Iowa. She passed away peacefully at her home in Schleswig Thursday, July 16, 2020, at the age of seventy-one, after a short battle with lung and liver cancer.
Ruth was baptized into Christ February 20, 1949, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ida Grove and later confirmed her faith at Trinity Lutheran Church, Grant Township, Ida County, Iowa. She was raised on the Grell family farm near Schleswig, attended country school, Morgan #1, which was the same country school her father attended, from kindergarten to 4th grade at which time the country schools closed and all children were bussed to Schleswig Community School in Schleswig where she graduated with the class of 1967. After graduation, she attended Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, graduating with an associate degree in nursing, later receiving her Registered Nursing degree. She was employed at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Fort Dodge for two years, married and had a son, Shane. She later divorced and moved to Sac City where she worked for Loring Hospital, moved to Sioux City and worked for eight years in the Intensive Care and Coronary Care Unit at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
In 1976, she married Bruce Jackson in Sioux City and had a daughter, Wendi Jo. In 1979, she moved to Russellville, Arkansas, where she worked in the surgical department at the local hospital. In 1987, she moved to Lakeland, Florida, working for twelve years at the Lakeland Regional Medical Center as charge nurse in the Cardiovascular Thoracic Trauma Unit. In 1992, she received the Nurse of the Year award for that unit. In 1999, she moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, where she worked for twelve years in the Cookeville Regional Medical Center as charge nurse in Post-operative Cardiac Surgical Unit. After the death of her husband in 2010, she retired from nursing and due to the death of her father in 2008 and the failing health of her mother, she returned to Schleswig, Iowa, to help care for her.
Ruth was an amazing seamstress, sewing most of her clothes as well as clothing for her children and grandchildren. For many years, all the members of her family enjoyed receiving “Grammy Jammies” for Christmas, all sewn with the same material pattern. She was a wonderful cook and will be remembered for her Christmas cookies and homemade jerky. She and her grandson Austin enjoyed trying new and interesting recipes together. She enjoyed various hobbies including crocheting, sewing, painting on sweatshirts and other items and gardening. Ruth loved cats and was never without at least two or three of her furry friends. They were her lifelong companions and friends. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Schleswig and helped with many of the activities and events of the mission board. She also enjoyed attending lots of craft shows with her sister and volunteered in events at Mission Central.
Ruth was preceded in death by her maternal grandparents, Otto and Esther Dose; paternal grandparents, Willie and Ella; her parents, Leslie and Eileen; and husband, Bruce. Those remaining to treasure loving memories of Ruth are: her children, Shane, and Wendi and her husband, Robert; grandchildren: Austin, Bobby, Emilee, and Cindy and her husband, Chris; three great-grandchildren; one sister and best friend, Janice and her husband, Loren; nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.