Ruth Payton

Ruth was born in Danforth, Illinois, the daughter of Thomas and Florence Voigt. She was raised in Crescent City, Illinois. She found it easy to show sympathy and kindness to others. Ruth was raised with four siblings; three brothers, Herbert, Harold, and Thomas, and one sister, Alice. As a young girl Ruth had a number of interests. She played softball, was a girl scout, belonged to 4-H, liked to read, and won two spelling awards (1927 and 1928). Ruth graduated Crescent City High School in 1935.

On June 12th, 1935 Ruth married Fred Payton at the parsonage of Salem Lutheran Church in Moline, Illinois, where they made their first home together. Over the years they lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, Crescent City, Illinois, and Tujunga, California. In 1963 they moved to San Jose, California.

Harmony was important to Ruth and she made every effort to maintain it with her family. Fred and Ruth were blessed with five children; a daughter Mary, and four sons, Bill, Dennis, Leland and John. They were also blessed with seventeen grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

Ruth enjoyed family vacations.She liked visiting the National Parks and visiting with relatives in Illinois. Ruth's primary occupation, other than homemaking, was working in food service at Noble School in San Jose, California. In her spare time she enjoyed doing cross stitch, reading, sewing, and cross-word puzzles. She also liked playing games such as Scrabble, and a card game called Sets and Runs. At one time she bowled in a bowling league. In her later years she played Bunco with her group of women friends.

Ruth was a faithful member of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Milpitas for 32 years. During that time she was a member of the Ladies Guild.

In 2006 Ruth went to live with her son John and daughter-in-law Teresa in Galt, California, where she passed away on December 5, 2010. She is survived by her daughter, Mary Ruth Luening, and sons Dennis, Leland and John Payton. She is also survived by her sister Alice Sampson and a brother Thomas Voigt. She was preceded in death by her husband and oldest son, Bill.

Services were held at Chapel of Roses at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, California, where she was laid to rest December 18th. Ruth will be greatly missed by her family and many friends.