Ruby Beckman

Ruby Gelinda (Thompson) Beckman, age 101, of Glenham, SD went to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday, September 1. Funeral services will be held Friday, September 6, at 10:30 AM at the Family Worship Center in Mobridge. Burial will be at the Mobridge City Cemetery under the direction of Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge. Visitation will be at 5 PM with a prayer service at 6:30 PM Thursday at the funeral home.

Ruby was born October 10, 1917 to Hans and Selma (Iverson) Thompson on the family homestead in western Sioux County, ND. She was the only daughter, with older brother Alvin, and younger brothers Roy, Herbert, and Norval.

Ruby attended Davis School, a country school near their homestead, for grades 1-8. Her first two years of high school were in Thunder Hawk, SD. At that time, her parents made the difficult decision to send her to Mandan, ND to complete her high school education in a more challenging academic environment.

Having completed high school and passing a standardized exam, Ruby was certified to teach in the country schools. She returned to the family farm in order to save money during the depression years, and taught at a nearby country school in Grant County, ND.

In 1938, Ruby began attending Northwest Bible and Music Academy in Minot, ND. After completing a two-year program there she served as the youth director for the Church of God in North and South Dakota. It was during this time that Ruby became acquainted with a young farmer and aspiring pastor, Walter Beckman, who worked on the family farm northeast of Glenham. However, Ruby returned to college in 1942 at the Church of God Bible Training School in Sevierville, TN, where she completed a junior college degree in Christian Education. Ruby and Walter had maintained their friendship during this time, and Ruby returned to the Dakotas where she and Walter married in Mobridge on June 18, 1944.

In 1944, Ruby taught at Northwest Bible and Music Academy, which had moved from Minot to Lemmon, SD. In the spring of 1945, Ruby's brother Alvin and Alvin's son Henley were stricken with tuberculosis and passed away. Ruby later contracted the same disease, and spent 1946-47 recovering on the Beckman farm near Glenham where she and Walter lived. In 1948, Walter began pastoring, with Ruby working closely beside him. They served in Mound City, Tolstoy, and Aberdeen churches from 1948 to 1962. While in Aberdeen, Ruby was able to continue her passion for education at Northern State College where she earned her Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education.

The Beckmans moved west in 1962 when Walter accepted a pastorate in Broadus, MT. During this time Ruby taught one year at the Little Powder School in Weston, WY – grades 1-8, with 14-18 students. Ruby described the location as "literally where the deer and the antelope played." Ruby secured a position in the Broadus schools the following year, and began teaching first grade.

A life-changing event occurred when Walter suffered a series of cerebral hemorrhages in 1965. After four months at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Ruby and Walter returned to Broadus. Walter had lost his ability to speak, read, or write, but as Ruby often stated, he had not lost his ability to think. She committed the next 23 years to nurturing and caring for him until his death in 1986.

During this period, Ruby "became hooked" on the field of speech therapy, having watched the therapists working with Walter. After teaching in Broadus for a few more years, Ruby and Walter moved to Missoula where Ruby earned a masters degree in Speech Therapy, while still caring for Walter. She worked in the school system in Missoula, focusing on hearing impaired children, until 1976.

When Ruby's father passed away in 1976, she made the decision to move back to Glenham to live with and help care for her mother. Over the next 13 years, Ruby continued her work as a speech therapist in a part-time capacity, working in Mobridge, Wakpala, and Glenham schools. Ruby also wrote the Glenham news column, appearing in local newspapers, over the course of several years, knowing how much that local news had meant to her when she was living away from the area.

During this time and well into her 90s, Ruby also dedicated her time as the lay pastor for the Church of God in Mound City. In her quiet manner, with this small congregation, they significantly impacted missions projects around the world with their contributions and prayers.

Following Ruby's retirements from her various responsibilities, she continued to live in her own in the home in Glenham, where she read, studied and learned, and cherished her time with friends and family, often over a good game of Scrabble (which she usually won). In 2017, at age 99, transitioned to the Mobridge Golden Living Center, and later to the Walworth County Care Center, where she spent her last days.

Ruby was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Walter, and her four brothers. She is survived by many loving nieces and nephews.