Memorial service for Ruth Fae Ann Saunders, 74, will be Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. at the Prince of Peace Chapel of Evanson Jensen Funeral Homes in Lemmon, SD. Rev. T.J. Shockley will officiate.


RUTH FAE PENFIELD was born on September 13, 1932 to Earl and Anna (Weinkauf) Penfield in Lemmon, SD. She attended school there, graduating from High School in 1950. After school, she married Charles Christen and trained and worked as a photographic colorist artist in their family photography business. They had one son, Arden, born in 1954.


In 1957, Ruth and her son traveled to Sioux City, Iowa, where she met and married Richard Saunders who was a Sergeant in the Air Force. Three more children came along with this union: Barbara in 1958, Cynthia in 1959 and Richard in 1960. The family traveled with the Air Force, living in places like Kansas City, MO, Taegu, Korea and finally Rapid City, SD, where Richard retired from the Air Force in 1968. After one year in Bowman, ND, working with her brother in the auction business, Ruth, Richard and their kids came to Hettinger, ND to own and operate the Hettinger Livestock Market. During this time, Ruth also worked with the Finder of Bowman, introducing the advertising paper to the Hettinger area. Later, Ruth and Richard operated the Hettinger branch of Jerry's Furniture of Dickinson, ND.


Sometime in the late 1970's, Ruth and Richard began to own and operate various rental properties in Hettinger and the local area. After Richards's death in 1990, Ruth began to remodel and resell houses with Ron Quail, whom she married in 1992. For 12 years, they bought, remodeled and sold houses in the Black Hills of SD. Even after Ron's death in 2003, Ruth carried on her house remodeling projects, finishing her last Black Hills home in the woods just two months before her own passing in January of 2007.


Ruth Saunders passed away at Casa Grande, AZ, under Hospice care, after a long battle with cancer, on January 26, 2007, with her family at her side.


Ruth is survived by her son Arden (Brenda) Saunders, of Hettinger, ND; daughters, Barbara (Terry) Hauge, of Williston, ND and Cynthia Howe, Casper, WY and son, Richard Saunders II, of Sturgis, SD; one brother, three sisters, 10 grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Preceding Ruth in death were her parents, one sister, Bonnie Kile and her husbands.