A Catholic Memorial Mass for Ruth (Velder) Jones, 104, formerly of Newell, will be offered at 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 7, at St. Martin’s Church in Sturgis with Fr. Timothy Castor officiating. Burial was held July 30, 2024, in Newell Hope Cemetery.
Community members, friends, and relatives are invited to attend the 10 a.m. service in Sturgis and a noon reception in Newell at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea. Ruth enjoyed family and community gatherings, ladies’ clubs, and other social activities involving her children, church, and Newell schools. Her preferred clothing and décor color was lavender or purple. Mass and fellowship attendees are welcome to wear a little purple or lavender in memory of Ruth.
Ruth Cunningham was born on February 19, 1920, to Harry and Ada (Greene) Cunningham in Newell.
Ruth attended Newell School and walked a mile to campus from the family alfalfa and sheep farm. Ruth graduated from high school in 1938.
Ruth met Homestake miner Clem Velder at Newell High School. They married on December 27, 1938, in Newell. To this union four children were born: Gary, Michael, Kathleen, and Eileen. The couple made their first home in Lead. During World War II, the gold mine shut down, so Ruth and Clem moved to Newell in 1943 where they bought a farm that later became the Velder Dairy which they operated with their son Gary into the 1970’s. Ruth was an accomplished seamstress and also showcased knitting, crocheting and embroidery skills.
Although Clem passed away suddenly from an untreated ulcer in 1973, Ruth maintained an active lifestyle with her children, grandchildren, and community and church friends in Newell and other Black Hills towns. Ruth joyfully took time to share stories about her childhood and community with her grandchildren. Her recordkeeping was vast. For example, her favorite cookbook has handwritten dates, occasions, and ratings (good and bad) of recipes she tried. She tracked history interests, and compiled family trees for the Cunninghams and Velders (without the benefit of the internet).
Ruth traveled often and walked about in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, 11 European Countries, and the Holy Land. She made photo albums and logged every trip she took and revisited them through these albums in her later years. Ruth’s interests also included baseball, politics, and the art of polite conversation.
Through what might seem like challenging times as a widow, single mother, caring for family in need, Ruth did not dwell on her circumstances. “That’s life. You do what you have to do, and don’t even think about it,” she reflected.
Ruth maintained lifelong friendships with area families including the Van Der Booms, Jaskelas, Schallenbergers, Makis, and Hafners. During one of these visits to Nora Schallenberger, she met former Newellite and widower Art Jones. The two spent time getting reacquainted and, although they promised each other they weren’t interested in a romantic relationship, one blossomed. On October 28, 2000, at the ages of 79 and 80, Art and Ruth were married in Newell.
Art joked at the time Ruth married him for three reasons: She wanted to go to Alaska; he owned a cabin in Spearfish Canyon; and he “couldn’t remember the other thing.” Ruth quickly reminded him that she married him for him. They were happily married for more than a decade until he moved to long-term care for health reasons. Art passed away in 2013.
In 2012, Ruth agreed to move to elderly housing in O’Neill, NE, near where her daughters live. There, she celebrated her 100th birthday, and proudly displayed greeting cards from many friends, relatives and total strangers, including the Nebraska governor. During the COVID pandemic, Ruth was moved to the home of her daughter Kathleen and her husband Richard, where she kept a routine of daily chores and lamented not being able to do all she could around the house, even while battling and surviving COVID and other illnesses.
On Wednesday, July 24, at her daughter Kathleen’s home in Inman, NE, Ruth took her last breath after 104 years of life. In her lifetime, she experienced 19 US Presidents, the creation of Mount Rushmore, multiple droughts and blizzards on the South Dakota plains, the passing of all of her friends, classmates, and siblings.
Her funeral reception will be held in the Church where she was confirmed, married, and supported for more than half a century. She is buried next to her first husband Clem Velder in a plot in the Newell Hope Cemetery that her father Harry Cunningham donated to the town of Newell many decades ago.
Ruth is survived by her four children: Gary (Linda) Velder of Newell; Mick (Judy) Velder of Belle Fourche; Kathleen (Richard) Sobotka of Inman, NE; and Eileen (Ken) Seeley of O’Neill, NE; 16 grandchildren; 52 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandson; many nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her parents; husband Clem; husband Art Jones; two brothers and three sisters, Mabel Wood, Bob Cunningham, Donald Cunningham, Lois Jackson, and Betty Brown.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established to the Newell Hope Cemetery maintenance fund, c/o City of Newell, PO Box 405, Newell, SD 57760.
