Funeral services for Ruth Wileman, age 91, of Rapid City, SD will be held at 11:00 a.m. MT on Thursday, May 17, 2012 at the Prince of Peace Chapel of the Evanson-Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon. Pastors Wes Wileman and Brian McDaniel will officiate with burial in the Greenhill Cemetery at Lemmon.


Serving as casketbearers are Dennis Peterson, Butch Conrad, Jeff Peterson, Darren Peterson, Chris Conrad and Brian McDaniel.


Special music will be provided by Sara Culver and Ruth's grandchildren.


Ruth (Hawkinson) Wileman was born on April 9, 1921 in Mora, MN, in a room in her grandparents' farm house. For several reasons, she was raised by her grandparents for the first five years of her life.


Ruth accepted Christ as her personal Savior when she was a senior in high school 1939. She went to North West Bible College then located in Lemmon, SD. After receiving her degree in Bible College, Ruth became a licensed minister in the Church of God. During her summer breaks, she would hold Vacation Bible Schools around the Dakotas and Montana with a fellow student. She also attended Northern State Teachers College and earned her teaching certificate in 1947.


It was during a visit home, at a Church of God revival that she met her lifelong friend Dorothy Upton Kruse. Dorothy and Ruth spent a year working for the Assembly of God headquarters helping set up the first National Sunday School Convention for the A/G Church. They also edited Sunday school material written by pastors around the state. After that year Dorothy and Ruth were asked by the pastors in Montana to come and head their state youth program. They went to Montana where they held VBS, did youth camps and conducted teacher training for churches across the state. One summer, they filled in as pastors of a church in Missoula, MT.

While conducting a VBS in Murdo, SD, Ruth met Boyd Wileman. It was also at the VBS that two of her future brother-in-laws accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. When the school superintendent needed a teacher he contacted Boyd to find out where Ruth and Dorothy were staying. They were hired to teach in Murdo. It was during this time that Boyd asked Ruth to marry him. They were married on March 21, 1951. After trying their hand at ranching and farming they decided to head to the big city of Minneapolis. Ruth substituted as a teacher in the Minneapolis school system while they raised their three daughters, Patricia, Shirley & Joyce.


During their 58 year marriage, Ruth supported her husband in ranching in South Dakota; working in Minneapolis; moving to Arkansas, starting a business in Lemmon, SD; moving to Washington and moving back to South Dakota to retire. They took joy in serving God together through many avenues. Over the years, Ruth served as a Sunday School teacher, Sunday School superintendent, song leader, Bible study teacher, and VBS worker.


Ruth passed away on May 7, 2012 at the Clarkson Mt. View Health Care in Rapid City, SD.


Ruth is survived by two daughters and three sons-in-law, Shirley and Butch Conrad, Joyce and Norm Rolph and Dennis Peterson; six grandchildren, Jeff (Jodi) Peterson, Darren (Summer) Peterson, Deanna (Brian) McDaniel, Sarah Conrad, Chris Conrad and Nicole Townsend; and eight great-grandchildren, Jaci, Jenna and Joelle Peterson, Rebekah, TC and Savannah Peterson and Ashlin and Braysin McDaniel; one brother, Gil Hawkinson; and one sister, Dee Smith.


Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Boyd Wileman; and daughter, Patricia "Pat" Peterson.


Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the funeral home on Thursday morning.