Ruth Graber

WAYLAND ? Ruth A. Graber, 90, of Wayland, died Friday, June 17, 2016, in Parkview Home in Wayland.

Services will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 25, at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church in Wayland with Nathan and Rachelle Luitjens officiating. Burial will be held prior to the service, at 9:30 a.m., Saturday in the Sugar Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2 to 7 p.m., Friday at the church, where the family will greet friends from 5 to 7 p.m. The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Parkview Home and Sugar Creek Mennonite Church. Assisting the family is Beatty Funeral Home of Wayland.

Mrs. Graber was born July 21, 1925, in Noble, where her parents, Elmer and Emma (Oswald) Freyenberger, farmed. She married Dennis V. Graber in 1944.

She graduated from Wayland High School. She devoted her time to helping her husband on their Crawfordsville farm and to homemaking. She was active in the neighborhood club, Sunset Circle. As a member of Sugar Creek Mennonite Church and the Loyal Companions Sunday school class, she taught summer Bible school, participated in Mennonite Women and assisted with many other church functions. She enjoyed family and friends, and frequently followed her favorite sports teams. For a number of years she and her husband spent the winter months in Sarasota, Florida. During retirement she volunteered at the Crowded Closet in Iowa City.

Surviving are two sisters, Ina Mae Eigsti of Hesston, Kansas, and Myrtle Gardner of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; two daughters, Judy Kliewer and husband Ardell of Crawfordsville, and Rita Steiner and husband Don of Harrisonburg, Virginia; three sons, Jerry Graber and wife Mary of Greenville, Illinois, Randy Graber and wife Shirlyn of Crawfordsville, and Sid Graber and wife Dyann of Crawfordsville; 13 grandchildren; and 22 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Dennis V. Graber, in 1997; and three brothers, William ?Bill? Freyenberger, Robert Freyenberger, and Edward Freyenberger.