Ruby S. Stevens

Ruby S. Stevens, 88, passed away June 1, 2017. Visitation will be from 5:30-7:30 PM Monday, June 5, 2017 at open Door Bible Church, 16211 S. US Highway Belton, MO. Funeral services will be at 2 PM Tuesday, June 6, 2017 at the church. Burial in Belton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please direct contributions to Evangelical Mission Ministries, Box 636, Pharr, TX 78577, designated for the seminary in Pachuca.

Ruby was the first born of David and Justina (Reimer) Heide. She was born in Chicago, Illinois while her dad attended Moody Bible Institute. She had three siblings: Della Jones, Milton Heide, and Joyce Jones. The family was known as the "Heide Evangelistic Team." They sang and preached in many different areas, including Canada.

Shortly after the depression, they migrated to Canada - where most of the extended family lived. Ruby worked alongside her family picking potatoes, strawberries, carrots, anything that was ready to be harvested that would help feed the family. She took piano lessons, which later helped her learn to play the accordion. The Heide family spoke both "low and high German" in their home, learning English to attend public school.

Ruby earned her 4-year degree from Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta Canada then transferred to Briercrest Bible College in Caranport, Saskatchewan, Canada to get her High School Diploma. It was there she met William (Bill) Stevens. They were married March 2, 1954.

Shortly thereafter, they left for the mission field of Panama, where they spent 10 years of ministry. Bill and Ruby had four children in Panama: Jonathan Lee, David Raymond, Sharon Elaine, and Nathan Charles.

They then moved to Bellingham, Washington to acclimate the children to American culture. While there, LouAnn Janine was born. Bill and Ruby kept their children busy on their five-acre farm with gardening, canning, feeding/milking the cows, making/selling butter/milk, etc.

After a seven year absence from the mission field, they moved to Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico, in 1972 to once again minister as missionaries, this time as teachers in the Bible Seminary. For the following 22 years they worked in many different churches, encouraging, teaching, training, and leading. They also conducted door-to-door evangelism, held Bible studies, and taught adults to read. When the door for full-time residency closed, they relocated to El Paso, Texas in 1976 and continued ministering in the border town of Ciudad Juarez.

After her husband’s death on April 28th 1993, Ruby stayed in El Paso another two years before relocating to Belton, Missouri to be nearer to her daughter Sharon and her family. She became a member of Blue River Bible Church and served on the Missions Committee while also teaching a lady's Bible Study and ministering to her neighbors.

In January of 2005, she was hospitalized for ten days for a colon rupture. This experience further complicated her recent diagnosis of moderate Alzheimer’s. To provide her the best possible care for her situation, when she was discharged from the hospital, she began residence in Raymore Health Care for rehabilitation. While there, she continued ministering to other residents with Bible reading, study, encouragement, playing piano, etc.

The nurses and staff confirmed she was a faithful witness until the end. They complimented her sweet and kind spirit. They shared how she always read her Bible and how she led a Bible study for the other residents when she first came to live there. She loved playing the piano and making people happy with her music. She made a huge impact on the people around her even until her last days.

Finally, on Thursday, June the 1st, 2017, around 11:15 am, her earthly form could no longer contain her sprit and she slipped from this earth’s constraints and was ushered into the presence of God Almighty, to be forever united with friends and family along with many others she introduced to Jesus.

Survivors include her children, Jonathan Lee, David Raymond and his wife Cynthia Lynn; Sharon Elaine and her husband Philip Edwin Hartnagel, Nathan Charles and his wife Karen, LouAnn Janine; grandchildren Jeremy Christopher Stevens, Jennifer Nicole and her husband Glenn Allgaier, Myriam Naomi Hartnagel, Joel Edwin Hartnagel, William Karl Hartnagel, Melissa Dawn Stevens, Mitchell Ryan Stevens; two great granddaughters, Alyssa Lynn and Adrianna Lauryn Allgaier.

Arr. McGilley & George Funeral Home, 611 Chestnut St. Belton, MO 64012 816-322-2995