Ruth Durham Hegreness passed away on June 13th, 2021 in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 102. She was predeceased by her husband of 56 years, Malvin Sievert Hegreness .She is survived by four children — Nancy Bradley of New Melle, Missouri; Donald Hegreness of Sayville, New York; Ralph Hegreness of Anthem, Arizona; and Janet Strand of Tigard, Oregon.
She is also survived by 9 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and 1 great, great grandchild.
Ruth was born in Evanston, Illinois on December 9th, 1918. Her parents were Ralph Durham and Stella Allinson. She had an older brother John (Jack) and an older sister Dorothy. She grew up in Evanston and Wilmette, Illinois, and graduated from New Trier High School. She got a bachelors degree from Depauw University and a masters degree from Northwestern University. In addition to raising children, she worked most of her life as a bookkeeper for various companies. In later years she worked into her 90’s as a tax preparer
Ruth and Malvin married in 1942. At that time Malvin was in the Navy, and early in their marriage he was stationed at various places on the east coast, including Brooklyn, New York, where Nancy was born in 1943.. Then he was away at sea and Ruth moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Don was born in 1945 and Ralph was born in June 1948.. Later in 1948 Ruth and Mal moved to Fort Meade, South Dakota . In 1951 they moved to Davenport, Iowa. In 1954 they moved to South Bend, Indiana, where Janet was born in 1955. In 1961 they moved to Rockford Illinois. Then around 1967 they moved to Portland, Oregon, where she remained for the rest of her life.
In her later years Ruth lived at Willamette View, a retirement facility in Portland She remained very active with many activities over the years including frequent traveling, playing golf, doing taxes, line dancing, singing, lawn bowling, playing mah jongg, and playing Bridge. Bridge was a game she learned from her parents, and she remained a very good player to the end.
Because of Covid restrictions during her last year, Ruth was mostly quarantined in her room at Willamette View, but she remained in contact by zooming frequently with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren up until about a week before her death. Despite failing health, she was mentally sharp until the end and was still interacting with family on her last day.
In many ways Ruth was a remarkable woman. While raising four children and working outside the home, she always managed to have a family dinner on the table every day at the same time. Often she would put something in the oven on a timer when she went off to work and it would be done when she came home. Or she would come in the door from work, put something in a pressure cooker, and have a hot meal on the table almost immediately. Then for dessert, she might serve something she had canned in mason jars in her spare time. Because of her efficiency around the home and in the kitchen, she created a very stable environment for her children to grow up in. And she handled the frequent moves with ease, causing a minimum of disruption in her or her children’s lives.
Another remarkable thing about Ruth and Mal is that they made the decision many years ago that they would never be their children’s responsibility. They moved to Willamette View where they lived in an apartment independently for many years but where they also knew they would be taken care of with assisted living care in their own apartment or constant care in the health facility if it became necessary. They were never a burden financially or otherwise, and that is a great gift that they gave their children.
As far as her legacy, Ruth raised four independent, capable, stable, successful children who mostly approach life and its problems with the effortless efficiency that she did. Many of her grandchil-dren and great grandchildren exhibit these qualities as well. She also passed on a love of travel, a love of the outdoors, a love of golf (more Mal’s thing), a love of being active in general, and par-ticularly a love of bridge, which is a game that is somewhat out of fashion but a great game never-theless.
The Irish wedding prayer says, “May you see your children’s children.” Ruth not only was able to see her children’s children, but she saw 20 of her children’s, children’s children and one of her children’s children’s children’s children. Remarkable! She is gone but her legacy lives on and con-tinues growing.
Family suggests remembrances to Willamette View Foundation in Portland Oregon.
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