Ruth Likness

Born on May 10, 1928 at Monitor, Alberta to Ben and Sina Likness. She died on April 20th, 2026. She was the youngest of ten children and she was the last one living. She would have been 98 on her next birthday so she lived the longest of them all.

She started school in a country ,one room school house at the age of seven. The family was forced to move from Monitor in the 1930’s. They lived in Hardisty area for a few years and then relocated to Philips where rented land offered farm land to her dad and oldest brother, Marvin. She and her sisters, Helen and Leona went to the Philips school. When that school closed, she went to Kinsella school . The bus was a covered half ton truck. Ruth followed her sisters out to Vancouver Island where she and Leona worked as waitresses for a time . When they came back to Alberta, their dad had bought a house and situated it on the corner of their son-in- laws farm, Tommy and Myrtle Harray. The same little house was later moved into Viking. The family moved to Camrose for a few years and then Ruth and her parents came back to Viking when Leona married in 1955. Ruth stayed to look after her parents until Grandpa Ben passed in 1961 and Gramma Sina in 1971.
She worked at the creamery office and then the Bank of Montreal until her retirement.

Caring for people seemed to be Auntie Ruth’s specialty. She cared for her partner, Bill (Wellington) Haire until his death and then her sisters, Velma and Leona who had moved back to Viking to be near her.

Ruth liked sports and was an excellent Badminton player both in singles and pairs. She had metal’s from seniors games. She loved watching curling, hockey and baseball right up to the time of her death. She lived in the Beaver Manor for thirteen years and a year and a half in Extendicare.

She was predeceased by her parents, Ben and Sina Likness, her brothers, Marvin and Bernie, her sisters,Myrtle,Gladys,Theresa,Marion, Velma, Helen ,Leona and several of her many nieces and nephews. She will be missed by Wellingtons family, Joe, Dale and Peggy, Lorraine, Jessie, David, Kelly, Shannon and their children. She was Auntie to all of us and we loved her dearly. A reunion of her family in Kinsella saw over 100 who were her remaining sisters and her cousins ,nieces and nephews her a vase with roses because she was truly the matriarch of our family and became like a mother to us when we lost our own. She kept in touch with as many of us as she could and enjoyed our visit’s especially in this last year and a half.

There is a graveside funeral on May 2 at Golden Lutheran cemetery at 2:00pm. A lunch will follow at the Lutheran Church.