Ruth Polovina

Ruth Hannula Polovina

Ruth Geraldine Hannula Polovina was born on October 27, 1929 in Bovey, Minnesota, to Hugo Samuel Hannula and the former Ellen Irene Hamar and died February 2, 2017 in Hemantown, Minnesota. Ruth married Donald Steve Polovina on September 17, 1950 in Chisholm, Minnesota. Ruth and Don had two children, Kathy (Hartley) and Brian. Ruth had one sister, Leona (Ona) Jones, who shared her birthday.

Ruth spoke Finnish at home as a young child and started school at the two room Trout Lake, Minnesota, School. Later, she attended school in Bovey where she met Donald in the third grade. They graduated from Greenway High School in Coleraine, Minnesota, in 1947. In ninth grade, Ruth started to work at Bovey Mercantile, her father's business, and worked there until her daughter Kathy was born in 1954.

In 1951, after Don was drafted, Ruth began to bowl, and the love of bowling lasted her entire life. She was also involved in many community activities, including Bovey Farmers’ Day.

Brian was born in 1957. The family moved to Floodwood, Minnesota, in 1962 and lived in a house built by Ruth’s father. She continued her community involvement, including at Hope Lutheran Church, as a Cub Scout leader, and in the Floodwood homemakers’ group. She commuted to Bovey to look after her father as he aged.

In 1968, the family moved to Hermantown, Minnesota, where Ruth was active for the rest of her life at Grace Lutheran Church. She became a member of the board of directors of the Duluth chapter of the US Bowling Congress, received the Meritorious Service Award from the Duluth USBC Hall of Fame, and served as the secretary for the Duluth Women’s Bowling Association for 23 years. She was a member of the Shriner’s Women’s Auxiliary and Plus 55. She volunteered with the Damiano Center and the Salvation Army. She walked with a group of friends almost every day at Miller Hill Mall.

Ruth was a wonderful cook and loved to make her husband’s favorite Serbian dishes, including sarmas and potica.

Ruth was a kind person who opened her heart and home to everyone. She very much loved and was incredibly generous to her children and to her grandchildren, Sam and Eliza, who spent wonderful weeks of vacation at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Don, and her sister, Leona. She is survived by her daughter, Kathy (Gil), and her son, Brian (Rieanne), as well as Sam (Alyssa), Eliza, and Brian and Rieanne’s children, Kaitlyn Foss and Casey Foss.

Ruth would find this obituary, written by her children, a bit much.

Visitation 9:30-11:00 AM; memorial service 11:00 AM, Thursday, February 16, 2017, Grace Lutheran Church, 5454 Miller Trunk Hwy, Hermantown MN.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials in Ruth’s honor to Grace Lutheran Church, (5454 Miller Trunk Hwy, Hermantown MN 55811), or to Essentia Health Saint Mary’s Medical Center Foundation, Duluth (400 East 3rd St, Duluth MN 55805), in support of research on breast cancer and heart disease.

Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral home, Duluth, 218-727-3555.

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