Obituary of Ruby Atema

Ruby was born in Camrose on September 29, 1920, firstborn child to Abel and Cora Lyseng. She passed away peacefully at Spruce Cottage, Bethany in Camrose on August 2, 2016 at the age of 95 years. Ruby resided with her parents and seven siblings on their farm NE of Armena. It was there she did her schooling and worked for farmers in the area. Ruby married Herman Atema on June 8, 1941 and moved to the Atema farm three and a half miles north of Armena. There they lived and farmed until their house burned on August 6, 2009. She spent her remaining years in Camrose. Janice mentioned Ruby liked her name. The night she was born there were beautiful northern lights and the doctor suggested she be given the name "Ruby Aurora". Ruby was an example of a hard working farm wife. She kept house, milked cows, fed pigs and always had a large garden, complete with a berry patch.She also loved flowers and in the spring started most of her own vegetables and flowers in their greenhouse. She worked tediously to keep up her flower beds and really got annoyed if you clipped a few while mowing grass; there was no excuse for that! There wasn't an old tub or cream separator around that didn't have some type of flowers in it. In later years, Herman was a passionate berry picker. Ruby canned berries and vegetables and became famous among the family for her homemade raspberry/rhubarb wine, with many a story or two told over a glass of sweet red wine. Even up to a few weeks ago she enjoyed a small glass of wine, of course strictly medicinal! We always enjoyed her homemade brown bread and her specialty sour dough cinnamon buns. They were even a big hit among their acquaintances in the RV park on their trips south to Indio & Palm Springs. Ruby enjoyed watching baseball and especially her Edmonton Eskimos. We knew she liked football when we found the schedule inside the front cover of her Bible. In their retirement years, Ruby really enjoyed RVing and spending the cold part of the winters south. They travelled well into Mexico and spent a lot of time in the Indio and Palm Springs area. Ruby was a quiet spoken mother, but was quite vocal about whether her children or grandchildren were looking after themselves and eating properly. She definitely worried more about others than herself. She is survived by her children Janice (Terry) Grundberg of Whitecourt, Bill (Elsie) of Camrose, Fred (Debbie) of Hay Lakes, thirteen grandchildren, twenty-four great- grandchildren, one great-great grandchild, sisters Joyce Chant of Camrose, Marion Ostrem of Edmonton, Audrey Davis of Camrose, brother Jerry (Joyce) Lyseng of Surrey BC, sister-in-law Nola Lyseng of Edmonton, and numerous nephews and nieces. She was predeceased by her husband Herman, sisters Eunice Morris and Berdeen Link, brother Alton Lyseng, and one grandson Russel Hansen. A memorial service was held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, August 6, 2016, from Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witness in Camrose with Mr. Carl Tollefson officiating. If friends and family so desire, memorial contributions are gratefully accepted to the charity of one's choice.