Ruthanna Hedrick 1929-2019
Ruthanna Dittemore Hedrick, 90, Hiawatha, died Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019, at her home, surrounded by family.
She was born Sept. 10, 1929, on a farm southeast of Highland in the Wolf River community, the daughter of Edgar Irwin and Elsie Martha Schwindt Dittemore. She graduated from Robinson High School in 1947, attended Highland Junior College to obtain her teaching certificate and lived most of her life in the Doniphan/Brown County area.
Mrs. Hedrick worked at the Robinson Telephone Company and taught in a small one-room school. She later worked at the Horton Garment Company for many years, then worked for 26 years at Hiawatha Community Hospital in data entry, retiring in 2004.
She was a member of the United Methodist Church in Robinson.
She married Jack W. Hedrick on Jan. 11, 1948, at Robinson. He preceded her in death, as did her parents and a sister, Dorthea Vasholtz.
Survivors include a sister, Patricia Gigstad, Olathe; a brother, Edgar E. “Ed” Dittemore, St. Petersburg, Fla.; five daughters, Cynthia Sweet, Fountain Hill, Ariz., Elizabeth Rudder and husband John, Leavenworth, Jackie Vidicki, San Leandro, Calif., Arvilla Walters and husband Leonard, Peculiar, Mo., and Deanna Tate and husband Robert, Leonardville; a son, Guy Hedrick and wife Darla, Holton; 13 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.
Private family services will be held at a later date in Mount Hope Cemetery, Hiawatha.
Memorial contributions may be made to the DAV (Disabled Atomic Veterans), sent in care of Chapel Oaks Funeral Home, 124 S. Seventh St., Hiawatha, KS 66434.
