RUTH THRUN

GREELEY, Colo. -- Ruth A. Thrun, age 53, died unexpectedly on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000, at the Northern Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colo., after a brief illness.

Ruth was born Jan. 13, 1947, in Stoughton, Wis., the daughter of Alvin and Norma (Gausmann) Thrun. She grew up on the family's McFarland-area farm.

She graduated from Monoma Grove High School in 194. She attended the university of Wisconsin-Whitewater and graduated in 1968 with a degree in education. She later received her master's degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She began her teaching career at Big Foot High School in Walworth, Wis. in 1964 She then taught at Southeast Missouri University Campus High School in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Since the early 1980s, she has been a high school social studies teacher at the University of Northern Colorado Lab School in Greeley.

In addition to her teaching, she was very involved in the school's extra-curricular activities, including serving as class adviser and coach of the Knowledge Bowl team. She also maintained membership in several professional educational associations. Currently, she was serving as president of the Greeley chapter of Phi Delta Kappa.

Ruth was a life-long member of Hope Lutheran Church where she also taught Sunday School for many years.

She is survived by her mother, Norma Thrun of Deerfield; a brother, Thomas (Peggy) Thrun of Sun Prairie; a sister, Nancy (Val) Thomas of Deerfield; and nephews and nieces, Natalie and Neil Thrun and Jonathan and Jennifer Thomas. She is also survived by her aunts, Marie Nobbs of Oregon, Joyce Watson of Rothschild, Dorothy (Olaf) Swenson of Daytona Beach, Fla., Joyce Gausmann of Madison and many other cousins, relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her father, Alvin Thrun; grandparents, Theodore and Mabel Gausmann and Sophia and Albert Thrun; and aunts and uncles, Emilie and Milo Gilbertson, Emil and Frances Thrun, William Thrun and Clarice Thrun Pagel, William Nobbs, Lucille Field Thrun, Kenneth Gausmann, Earl Gausmann, Rollin Grausmann and Philip and Betty Gausmann.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8 at Hope Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove. Pastor Glenn Zimbelman will officiate, with burial at Hope-Cottage Grove Cemetery. Friends may call at Schroeder-Cress Funeral Home in Madison from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and at the church after 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Announcement courtesy of Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel in Cape Girardeau.