Ruth Carolyn Kelling

Ruth Carolyn Kelling was born on Flag Day, June 14, 1913, in Manchester, Iowa, daughter of Howard Commerford and Grace Horton Commerford. She graduated from Manchester High School and attended Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She married Doctor Jordan A. Kelling in 1932, while he was in the Army assigned to the Civilian Conservation Corps in that part of Iowa. Shortly after marriage, they went to St. Louis, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, for Dr. Kelling's advanced medical training. They moved to Waverly Missouri in 1940, where Dr. Kelling joined the family medical practice. That episode was short-lived, since he was recalled to military service in early 1941. They returned to Waverly in 1947, and Ruth Kelling applied herself to the life of a country doctor's wife. She also applied herself to clubs, and she was president of the Missouri Medical Society Auxiliary and the Southern Medical Society Auxiliary. After her husband's death in 1985, she remained in Waverly until 1994 when she moved to Texas. She lived in Brighton Gardens Assisted Living facility for the last four years of her life. She is succeeded by her son, Lt. Col. George H. Kelling, US Army Ret; daughter-in-law, Betty Kelling; grandchildren, Maj. George A. Kelling, US Marine Corps, and social worker Mary Ann Jennings. She has four great-grandchildren, Avery Elizabeth Kelling, Blake Kelling, Haley Jennings, and Ashley Jennings. She will be buried in the family plot at Mount Nebo Cemetery, Grand Pass, Missouri.