Ruth Wohman Gerum

Ruth is preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Charles William Gerum; by her parents and her brother. Ruth is survived by her daughter, Suzanne Gerum Stiles and her husband Adam Michael Stiles, and their three daughters, Catherine Suzanne Stiles, Caroline Story Stiles and Charlotte Spencer Stiles, all of Houston; her sister, Mary Jane Wohman Morris and her husband Bruce of Boerne, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Ruth was born on the 7th of October 1937, in Muskegon, Michigan. She moved to Houston when she was thirteen years old and was raised in West University. She graduated from Lamar High School in Houston in 1955. She started school at the University of Houston after graduation only to stop after the death of her father so she could go to work to help support the family.

It was at her job at the phone company that she met her husband, Charles. He had recently returned from France where he had been stationed in the army. His good friend Robert Eastwood was Ruth’s boss. After they married, Charles encouraged her to go back to school and Ruth graduated from the University of Houston in 1967 with a BSE.

Ruth taught 2nd grade for 13 years. After her daughter was born in 1972, Ruth stayed home until Suzanne was in middle school. She then went back to teaching Preschool and then Kindergarten, both at Ascension Episcopal, where she taught for 16 years.

She was a gifted teacher and loved teaching children how to read. In 2002, with the birth of her first granddaughter, Ruth’s focus shifted to spending time with her family. Her greatest joy was helping raise her three granddaughters. She spent many hours attending school programs, driving to after school lessons and watching over them.

In 2015, after the death of her husband, she moved in with her daughter and her family and became a part of their everyday life. Ruth’s daughter Suzanne was her best friend and her constant companion. Ruth dearly loved her family and was amazing wife, mother and grandmother. She led and active and full life until the day she died.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Sunday, the 9th of January, in the grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at ten o’clock in the morning on Monday, the 10th of January, at Memorial Drive Lutheran Church, 12211 Memorial Drive in Houston, where the Rev. Beth Halvorsen, the Rev. Josef Klam, and the Rev. Alf Halvorson will officiate.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at a venue to be announced during the services.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial donations in memory of Ruth Wohman Gerum may be directed to the Houston Alumnae Panhellenic Foundation, 5868 A-1 Westheimer Road #342, Houston, TX, 77057 (houston-panhellenic.org) or the Spring Branch Education Foundation, 955 Campbell Road, Houston, TX, 77024 (sbef.springbranchisd.com)