Ruby E. Westman

Ruby E. Westman, 81 Kearney resident Ruby E. Westman, 81, of Kearney, formerly of Hastings, died Saturday, April 04, 2015 at her home. Funeral Service will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at Zion Lutheran Church with the Rev. James DeLoach officiating. Interment will follow at St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in rural Glenvil, NE. Memorials are suggested to Zion Lutheran Church or donor’s choice. Condolences may be shared online at www.osrfh.com. O’Brien Straatmann Redinger Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Ruby was born March 8, 1934 in Denver, Colorado to Anton and Helen Marie (Jersild) Kirkegaard. She lived on a farm in Aurora, CO. until she was 15 and her family moved to Oklahoma and then to Siloam Springs, Arkansas where she graduated from High School. She married Wilmer C. Westman on May 31, 1953, while he was in the USAF. She worked at various jobs while her husband went to the University of North Dakota, and then to Luther Seminary at St. Paul, MN. Following his graduation and ordination as a Pastor of the Am. Lutheran Church, they became missionaries and served in Bogota, Colombia, South America. She graduated from the Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1965. They returned to the United States in 1969, and served two churches in Crystal Lake, IA and two churches in Butterfield, MN. In 1975, they moved to Hastings, Nebraska where Pastor Bill served as Dir. Of Spiritual Ministries at the Good Samaritan Village and Ruby served as the Activity Director at Villa Grace Good Samaritan Village for 18 years. She attended two sessions of Leadership School at Michigan State University in 1974 and 1976, and a rural Training Lab in Minnesota in 1975. While living in Minnesota she served as a Stewardship Secretary on the conference level of The American Lutheran Church Women 1972 – 1976. She was a member of the National Association of Act. Professionals and was a certified Act Director NCCAP. She served as a member of Human Services Advisory Committee at Central Community College in Hastings, NE. Ruby also served on the Library Board of Blue Hill, NE. Her husband passed away November 14, 2000 in Hastings, NE. Five years later she moved to Kearney, NE. She was a member of First Lutheran Church where she was a past president of the Women of the ELCA. Ruby later would become a member at Zion Lutheran Church. Left to cherish her memory are her daughters, Patti (Marty) Feldman of Hastings and Rachel (Jeff) Strong of Kearney; son, Mark (Barb) Westman of Lincoln; 6 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren; sister, Ruth Svinth of Petaluma, CA; and brother, Rev. Walter Kirkegaard of Great Falls, MN. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; three sisters; three brothers, and her grandson.

Ruby E. Westman

March 8, 1934 - April 4, 2015