Ruff, Elaine Kathleen
(née Michael) a Lutheran elementary and preschool teacher, passed away on January 21 at her home in Webster Groves, Missouri. The cause was complications stemming from the gallbladder cancer with which she had been diagnosed in April 2015.
She was born on July 24, 1941 in Great Falls, Montana to Augusta (Kranawetter) Michael and Rev. Gerhard Michael, an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. She spent her childhood years in Hankinson, North Dakota and graduated from Howard Lake High School in Howard Lake, Minnesota in 1959.
She received her AA degree in 1961 from Concordia College, St. Paul, and her B.S. in education from Concordia College in Seward, Nebraska. She received her MS in developmental reading with a minor in early childhood education in 1976 from SUNY Fredonia, in Fredonia, New York.
Elaine was a conscientious Lutheran educator, having taught at Lutheran schools in Patchogue, New York, Lancaster, Ohio, Buffalo, New York and Kingsville, Maryland. She was known for the care and patience that she showed to her schoolchildren. During her ten month struggle with cancer, she received hundreds of letters, cards and emails from friends, family and acquaintances all over the world testifying to the difference that she had made in so many lives over the decades.
Ever diligent and industrious, Elaine also knew how to stretch a dollar. She was an inveterate coupon-clipper, recycler long before the environmental movement took shape and gardener of almost every vegetable known to humanity. She kept tabs on supermarket and estate sales. Keenly interested in home and garden décor, she remodeled all of her homes herself. She redesigned kitchens, removed stains, painted walls, sanded floors, refinished and upholstered furniture and even applied insulating wrap. She loved to listen to music and credited her love of classical music to a Music Appreciation class that she took at Concordia College, St. Paul with the renowned Lutheran organist and composer, Paul Manz.
She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Rev. Roger Ruff; three sons, Matthew, Mark and Michael; two daughters-in-law, Justine and Lynnae, three grandchildren, Collin, Micah and Xavier; and five siblings, Lois Troemel, Margaret Rivers, Gerhard Michael Jr., Mark Michael and Joel Michael.
Services: Visitation will take place at the Kutis Funeral Home located at 10151 Gravois Avenue, St. Louis MO 63123 on Friday, January 22 from 2 to 4 pm and again from 7 to 9 pm. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 23 at 11 am at Christ Lutheran Church located at 1 Selma Avenue in Webster Groves, MO 63119. Memorials may be made to Christ Lutheran Church in Webster Groves MO, Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, MO and LSS Hospice in Laclede Groves.