Ruth A. Hunsaker

Ruth A. Hunsaker

Ruth A. Hunsaker, beloved wife, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed away on April 14 2010 at the age of 91 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was preceded in death by her husband of 30 years, Fauntleroy Hunsaker, of Centerville, Utah. She was born May 27, 1918 in San Pedro, California, to Arthur W. Erickson and Ruth A. Robicheaux. Ruth’s parents divorced in 1928, her mother remarried Maurice Alquist and the family moved to Denver, Colorado and he adopted Ruth. She graduated from South H.S. in Denver, Colorado, with honors in 1936. She received a four-year scholarship to any of the five Colorado universities of her choice.
Ruth married Harold F. Hart Jan. 31, 1938 in Denver, Colorado. daughter, Sherron Lee Francis Hart. They divorced and Ruth returned to California and worked in an ammunition factory during World War II. In 1944, at the age of twenty-six, Ruth decided to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse. She received her degree in nursing and nursing administration from the University of Colorado. In 1950 she received a degree in nursing anesthesiology from the University of Utah. She worked in the local hospitals in Salt Lake for the next six years. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1955.
In 1956, she returned to California to care for her aunt who had been ill. During the next three years she worked as a member of an anesthesia and surgical team pioneering in open heart surgery at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Later she worked as the Director of Nurses at Imperial Hospital, and then the Bel Air Hospital, both in California. In 1964 she returned to Utah and took a position at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah where she worked until 1965, when she married Fauntleroy Hunsaker in the Salt Lake Temple, Nov. 11, 1965.
Ruth and Faun were popular speakers in youth groups, church meetings and firesides. They spent years and thousands of dollars searching for their ancestors. She submitted over 40,000 names of ancestors to the temple. She served as a temple ordinance worker for over 40 years in the Los Angeles, Salt Lake and Bountiful Temples.
She loved to entertain and was a gourmet cook. She is survived by three sons: Vern A. (Lauralee) Hunsaker, Placentia, CA; Gordon F. (Sherlene) Hunsaker, Sun City, CA; Thomas G. (Louann) Hunsaker, West Weber, UT; two daughters, Sherron L. Hart, Springville, UT; Kathryn H. (Russell) Spencer, Provo, UT; 32 grandchildren; 89 great-grandchildren; and 4 great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral Services to be held April 17, 2010 at 1pm in the LDS Chapel at 160 South 300 East in Centerville, Utah. Interment will follow at Logan City Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.allenmortuaries.net