After a long and fulfilling life, Ruth Elizabeth Allison, 97, passed away in Slater on October 10, 2024. Ruth was born in La Cygne, Kansas, on July 30, 1927, to Henry Bergman and Stella Boyd Bergman. She was the twelfth of thirteen children. She grew up on the family farm and attended a one-room schoolhouse through the eighth grade.

Ruth graduated from La Cygne High School in 1945. She then moved to Kansas City to work and attend Central Business College. A year later she met Billy Allison, a recently-discharged sailor who had served four years in the Navy during World War II. They married in Kansas City, Kansas, on September 28, 1946. The young couple farmed in Bates County before moving to Nevada, Missouri, in 1953. Billy began working for Missouri Public Service. For the next thirty-three years, Billy’s job took them to several towns in Missouri, arriving in Marshall in 1962. They moved back to Nevada in 1971, then returned to Marshall in 1990.

After all her children were in school, Ruth worked a variety of jobs. In Nevada she was an administrative assistant for a podiatrist for thirteen years. Ruth was a long-time member of the First Baptist Church in Marshall and she volunteered at the Fitzgibbon Hospital gift shop for many years.

She was preceded in death by her husband of fifty-six years in 2002, her parents, and all of her siblings. Ruth is survived by her sons, Kenny, John, Jim, Charles, and David Allison, all of Marshall, and her daughter Mary Penner of Tijeras, New Mexico. She is also survived by eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday. October 18, 2024 at Campbell-Lewis Chapel in Marshall, with Rev. Wayne Doolin officiating. Visitation will be held from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Inurnment will be in Sunset Gardens Cemetery in Marshall. Memorials are suggested to Big Bend Retreat in Slater, MO. Friends may sign the online register book at www.campbell-lewis.com.