Obituary of Ruby A. Ryan

Ruby Ryan passed away on Saturday July 25, 2009, in Coralville, after a lengthy illness. In the last few years, she was lovingly cared for by her nieces, Karen Morgan, Myra Wagehoft, Jane McGlumphry, Deb Abel and her nephew, Mike Ryan, in addition to several grand-nieces who lived in the Coralville area. Memorial services for Ruby Ryan, 85, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, August 1, 2009, the Coralville United Methodist Church. Visitation will be after 9:30 a.m. Saturday until services at the church. Internment will be held at the Leon Cemetery in Leon, IA at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 31, 2009. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Iowa City Hospice or the Tandala Hospital in Ubangi, Belgian Congo. Online condolences may be sent through the web @ www.gayandciha.com Ruby Ryan was born to Calvin and Myra Ryan on September 20, 1923 in Leon, Iowa. She graduated from Derby High School in 1940. She worked for a short time as a central operator for a telephone company and then moved to Chilicothe, MO to complete a 6 month course at a business college there. Following this she returned to work in the office of the Agriculture Conservation Office in Chariton, Iowa. Ruby enlisted in the Navy and completed her training as a Storekeeper First Class in November 1943. She continued to serve her country until March 1946. Ruby earned her degree as a Registered Nurse in 1950. This nurses’ training was the last three-year program in the School of Nursing at the University of Iowa. She was employed as a staff nurse at Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, and moved on to become staff nurse at Ravenswood Community Hospital in Chicago. During her time in Chicago, she completed two years of French language, acted as a school nurse at Trinity Seminary, and camp nurse at Bible Camp. Ruby accepted a mission assignment with the Free Church of America in 1953. She traveled to Belgium to finish her French studies and training in Tropical Medicine. In 1954 she completed her internship in the government hospital in Leopoldville, Belgian Congo and then traveled to the Mission Hospital of EVCA (currently Tandala Hospital), located in Ubangi, Belgian Congo. She was the first woman missionary to practice nursing in that hospital. She continued nursing in Ubangi until 1956. She was furloughed to the United States until 1958. She returned to Ubangi and then Badja Baya, where she worked as the only nurse until help arrived in 1959. In the summer of 1960 a revolution began in the area. Ruby joined a mass of Belgians crossing the Congo River in motorboats to safety in Benqui. Ruby returned to the states and was employed as a staff nurse in pediatrics at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Minneapolis. In 1966 she moved to Portland, Oregon where she worked as a staff and charge nurse in pediatrics until her retirement in 1985. Ruby lived in Escondido and Visalia, California before returning to Iowa in 1996. She kept in contact with hundreds of acquaintances over the years and was a faithful witness in her Christian faith to all whom she met. Ruby is survived by her sisters, Roselyn Friesen of Windom, MN and Georgia (Gordon) Peterson of New Richland, MN; her sisters-in-law, Betty Ryan, Sellersburg, IN, Jan Ryan, Godfrey, IL, Barb Ryan, Pleasantville, IA and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and brothers, Burwell, Lewis, Chester, Ira, and Robert Ryan.