Ruth Paulson Bartel

Ruth Paulson Bartel was born on April 23, 1922, to Andrew and Nora Valnes Paulson at Claremont, South Dakota. Ruth went home to be with her Lord on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at Village Green Memory Care Community in Conroe, Texas.

While a young child her family moved to Amherst, South Dakota where she attended the Western Consolidated Schools. After graduating from high school in 1938, she attended Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She received her teachers’ certification and taught in small communities in the area. In the early summer of 1942, Ruth went with teacher friends to Inglewood, California and visited a brother who was stationed there. She decided to stay and to work as a production clerk in the office of North American Aviation which was then producing the B-25 bomber. It was during this time that through mutual friends, Ruth met Jack Bartel from Balko, Oklahoma who was working for Douglas Aircraft. Jack and Ruth were married on September 24, 1942, in Inglewood. During their courtship and early marriage, they enjoyed going to see and dance to all of the big bands of the 1940’s. 

After Jack was drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1944, Ruth returned to South Dakota and spent the remainder of the war teaching in her home school at Amherst and in other nearby communities. After Jack’s discharge from the army, they moved to Balko, Oklahoma where they farmed and purchased a bulk oil and fuel business which became “Balko Oil Company” which they operated for 12 ½ years. Ruth also taught at the Bethany School near Balko for a time after moving to Balko. Ruth was reared in a Lutheran home. In 1948 she made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ and was baptized into the membership of the Balko Baptist Church where she attended most of her life. She served as Girls Auxiliary Director in the Panhandle Baptist Association. Both Ruth and Jack participated in mission trips to Mexico.

 In 1966 they purchased a farm/ranch with improvements on a section of land north of Balko where the family lived until retiring and moving to Perryton, Texas in 1990. She and Jack enjoyed tours, socials and musical presentations sponsored by the First Prestige Club in Liberal, Kansas. In 1988 she was able to go to Norway to visit relatives and the home of her maternal grandmother Valnes. Ruth and Jack also enjoyed traveling with their life-long friends, Warder and Winifred Hutton of Blackwell, Oklahoma.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Jack, five brothers, Elmer, Lowell, Harry, Andrew, Percy and two sisters, Mary and Dorothy. She is survived by her daughter, Jacque Swanner and her husband Stephen of rural Balko, Oklahoma; her son, Norn Bartel and his wife Mary of Willis, Texas and grandson, Stian Bartel of Mercer Island, Washington.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 1:00 PM at Balko Baptist Church with Reverend Todd Carr officiating. Graveside services and internment will be in Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Balko, Oklahoma. Arrangements are under direction of Hornung Family Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to Balko Baptist Church in care of Hornung Family Funeral Home, 1212 W. 2nd Street, Liberal, Kansas 67901.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.hornungfuneralhome.com