Brewer, Ruth
BREWER, Ruth Overgaard
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Ruth Overgaard Brewer at age 99 on December 9, 2020.
Ruth was predeceased by her husband Bob in 1989. She is survived by her son Robert; daughter-in-law Evelyn; granddaughter Lara; sister JoAnn Larson (Luther); brother Robert Overgaard (Sally); and sister-in-law Ann Stone; along with Sandra Hussey, and many beloved nieces, nephews, and friends. A memorial service will be planned at a later date in accordance with CDC guidelines.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ruth Overgaard Brewer Scholarship Fund in Occupational Therapy at the University of Minnesota (https://makingagift.umn.edu/give/fund.html?id=23849); the Ogalala Lakota College in Kyle, South Dakota (https://www.olc.edu/index.htm); or the charity of the donor's choice. Interment will be at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, IL alongside her beloved husband Bob. Please visit asturner.com to share a condolence or a memory of Ruth.
Ruth was born on July 4, 1921 in Ashby, MN to her loving parents Gust and Ella, in a farmhouse built by her father. Ruth was sweet and quite shy, but she was also strong and independent; with an adventurous streak and a life-long love of learning. Upon graduating from Hillcrest Academy in Fergus Falls, MN in 1939, she drove off to New York City, where she worked as a live-in nanny for several months. During WWII, she moved to Seattle to work at Boeing Aircraft, where she managed plans for the building of military planes. She subsequently enrolled in one of the first Occupational Therapy (OT) programs in the U.S. at the University of Minnesota and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1951. She then moved back to NYC and worked in Psychiatric OT.
Shortly thereafter, Ruth met the love of her life Robert D. Brewer, Jr., M.D. (Bob) and the two moved to Chicago, where they were married in 1955. Their son Robert D. Brewer III (Robert) was born the following year.
Ruth loved being a wife and mother, and delighted in reading books, particularly those on philosophy and psychology. She was also an incredible seamstress and made many of her own clothes throughout her life. She also loved making Scandinavian pastries and drinking coffee, which she called "Norwegian Gasoline".
Ruth felt a deep devotion to her parents and far-flung siblings throughout her life, and she reveled in getting together with them and playfully swapping stories about life on the farm. She also loved her neighbors and caregivers at the Kings Bridge Retirement Community and the Fountainview Center, and friends at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and at the Central Congregational Church.
Ruth was a woman of her times and ahead of her times, and yet she held this apparent contradiction beautifully. She embodied Ralph Waldo Emerson's definition of success, and the world is definitely a better place for her having walked among us.
