Ruth Farrar Sauer

Ruth was born on August 6, 1923, to Ida Moore Swanson and William Fredin Swanson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh during World War II. Soon after graduation she signed up for the WAVES (Navy), where she was stationed first at Smith College for officer training, then was transferred to Washington, DC to the code division. She had top secret military clearance, and refused for the rest of her life to even mention her military career as a “Code Girl”.

She married Reginald George Farrar on June 5, 1948. She had four children, and is survived by all four: Kenneth (Helen) Farrar of Charlottesville, VA; Sally (Steve) Richman of Tucson, AZ; Norman (Denise) Farrar of Colorado Springs, CO; and Carol (Roger) Calhoon of Redmond, WA. Also surviving her are five grandchildren: Andrew Calhoon of Redmond, WA; Jenny Farrar of Los Angeles, CA; Becky Farrar of San Francisco, CA; Elisabeth Calhoon of Columbus, OH; and Jamie Richman of Tucson, AZ.

Her brother, William F. Swanson, Jr, his four children, and 6 grandchildren, also survive her.

Reg and Ruth lived in Boston (where her first 2 children were born), then Pittsburgh (where the other 2 children were born), then moved to Middletown, Ohio, in 1960 for Reginald’s job at Armco Steel. She frequently mentioned that she was happy with the boy, girl, boy, girl sequence of her children’s births, with approximately two years between successive births.

Ruth started teaching in 1965 as a substitute teacher, but was soon hired full-time to teach business courses, like typing and office organization, at Middletown High School, retiring after all of her children graduated from college.

Ruth never met a challenge she wouldn’t take on. She was very competent at all household skills, including embroidery, crewel embroidery art, sewing (even making some of her children’s clothes when they were younger), cutting her children’s hair, and cooking. She fixed almost anything that broke down in the home, even fixing a problem with the family Volkswagen. She liked to make jewelry, kept a kiln in the basement for ceramic projects and had her own set of tools.

After Reginald died in 1988, she married G. Frederick “Fred” Sauer. She assisted Fred in his numerous woodworking projects, doing much of the finish sanding on most of his furniture projects.

In 2019, Ruth and Fred moved into an independent living apartment at Ohio Living Mt. Pleasant in Monroe, Ohio. She moved into Assisted Living there in 2020, and into nursing care in 2023 after several strokes reduced her mobility.

Fred Sauer died in 2020. His children and grandchildren were very much her family, too. He was survived by: Martin (Elena) Sauer of Lancaster, PA; Thomas (Kim) Sauer of Germantown, TN; Mary (Greg) Noe of Cincinnati; and Jean Sauer of Chester Springs, PA. He is also survived by his four grandchildren: Stephanie Sauer of Breckenridge, CO; Jonathan Sauer of Denver, CO; Kate Leach of Memphis, TN; and Scott (Katie) Sauer of Germantown, TN; and his five great-grandchildren: Whit, Quinn, and Arden Sauer of Germantown, TN; and Emma and Preston Leach of Memphis.

Donations in memoriam may be made to Keep Middletown Beautiful (https://keepmiddletownbeautiful.org).