Ruth Menke Barrows

Ruth Mary Menke Barrows was born July 4, 1925, in West Bend, Iowa, the daughter of Leo and Pauline (Dorweiler) Arndorfer. At a young age her family moved to St. Benedict before moving to Bancroft and settling on a farm northwest of Bancroft. She attended school in Bancroft and graduated from St. John's High School in 1943. On February 24, 1944, Ruth was united in marriage to Arthur Menke in Bancroft. They lived on a farm northeast of Bancroft where they raised their family. Arthur later died on December 6, 1973. Ruth worked at the Bancroft Register, the liquor store and later Winnebago where she met and later married Max Barrows on June 29, 1978, in South Dakota. They lived on the Menke family farm northeast of Bancroft. Ruth enjoyed living and working on the farm, taking care of her cats, raising her garden and canning. She was a member of St. John's Parish. Ruth died Saturday, April 6, 2013, at the Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona. She was 87. She is survived by her children, Daniel Menke of Fort Dodge; Joan and Dennis Phillips of Evansdale; Judy Meyer of Kirkland, WA; Darlene and Blaine Watkins of Bloomington, MN; Nancy Hutzell of T...[more]

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ka, KS; Harriet Hutchison and Pat Robbins of Tempe, AZ; Mike Menke of Bancroft and Steve Menke of Bancroft; 14 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands, Arthur Menke on December 6, 1973, and Max Barrows on January 25, 2009; two sons-in-law, Ron Hutzell and Robert Meyer; daughter-in-law, Darlene Menke and a brother, Donald Arndorfer. Ruth's family would like to thank all of her caregivers, but especially, Vickie Howard, Kathy Morse, LeAnn Smith and Carol Henderland.