Ruth Louise Wilke

Our mother, Ruth Wilke, left this world on June 7, 2023 pretty much the way she lived her life – quietly, peacefully and without much fuss. She was born at 5:30 pm on April 6,1932 in Milwaukee, WI, the only child of Adolf and Maude Delzer. Her parents spoke German, but she did not, so German became her parents’ secret language.

Ruth lost her mother to breast cancer at a young age and went to live with her aunt Grace and uncle Martin. She met the dashing and handsome Gerald Arthur Wilke at a dance quite by accident. He had asked her friend to dance and, fortunately for us, her friend misunderstood his question and answered no. As he walked away dejected, Ruth chased him down and in an uncharacteristic forward manner said, “I’ll dance with you!” Her initiative paid off and they were married on May 28, 1955.

Gerald worked as a meter reader by day and earned his Civil Engineering degree at night. The following year their adorable baby, Karen, was born. In 1960, their second adorable baby, Sandra, was born. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Los Angeles and it was there that their third adorable baby, Mary, was born. And . . . Ruth learned to drive in the big city!

In 1970, the family moved to Solana Beach and after the kids were all in school, Ruth went to work at what is now the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA. She was active in St. Mark Lutheran Church and enjoyed singing in the choir. After she suffered the loss of our father, she carried on to earn a degree at Coleman College and landed a job at the Institute of Continued Learning at UCSD, now the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. It was there that she began to live life to the fullest – she started jogging, traveled the world, and went anywhere with you that you asked her to go.

After she retired in 2011, she moved to La Costa Glen and took advantage of everything offered. She joined the travel club and her worldwide adventures continued. She even loved

to play Bingo which she later came to despise when she transferred to GlenBrook last year after a fall.

Ruth leaves behind those three adorable daughters: Karen Chatfield Barnhart and husband Greg in Cave Creek, AZ; Sandra Wilke in Poway; and Mary Wilke with husband John Ott in Rancho Bernardo. We will all miss her upbeat, positive, considerate and generous nature. There’s so much more to say, but you get the idea. No services are planned, but we think what would make Ruth the happiest would be for you to grab a cup of tea and think about the good times you had.

With love from her adorable daughters,

Karen, Sandra and Mary