Obituary of Ruth Pekarek

Longtime Burlington resident, Ruth Pekarek, passed away June 16, 2017 at Kit Carson Memorial Hospital in Burlington, Colorado. She was 83 years old. Ruth was born on January 7, 1934, in Holdenville, Oklahoma, to Barry Franklin and Myrtle (Davenport) Turner. She was the youngest of three children. Her sister and brother, Annie Lula (Turner) Baade and Albert Barry Turner, preceded her in death. Ruth’s early years were spent in Holdenville. The family moved to Oklahoma City for a short time, and then to Midwest City, where she graduated from high school. Ruth attended Oklahoma State University at Stillwater, and worked at Tinker Air Force Base in the summer. Ruth married Norbert (Bud) Pekarek on August 28, 1954, in Midwest City, Oklahoma. They lived in Okeene, Oklahoma, until 1974. During the time in Okeene, Ruth was a busy housewife, and she also helped teach fifth grade students at St. Mary’s Catholic School. Seven of their nine children were born while they lived in Okeene. Ruth was active in church activities, she also helped her husband on custom harvest runs each summer and fall, and they began to farm in Burlington, Colorado. In 1974, Ruth moved with her husband and children to Burlington, where they established their home and farming operations. Two more children were born in Burlington. Ruth kept busy with children’s school and sports activities, church activities, the Lady’s Altar Society, teaching catechism and religious classes, as well as continually making meals for farm hands, and managing the paperwork for the growing farm operation. Ruth enjoyed the outdoors, working endless hours in her flower garden and the yard, having family and friends visit, babies and grandchildren, pets, reading and learning, classical music and musicals, watching the crops grow from her back door, eastern Colorado sunsets and the birds singing in the 300 trees that she helped plant around her home. Ruth was caring, selfless, and hard working. She always put her family’s needs above her own. Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Barry Franklin and Myrtle Turner; her brother Albert Barry Turner, her sister, Annie Lula (Turner) Baade, and her son, David Thomas Pekarek. She is survived by her husband, Norbert (Bud) Pekarek; her children: Nancy Post of Cache, Oklahoma; Alice Pekarek-Ulrich of Denver, Colorado; Steven Pekarek of Lakewood, Colorado; Angela Berry of Burlington, Colorado; Laura Pekarek of Tampa, Florida; Linda Niebur of Denver, Colorado; John Pekarek of Burlington, Colorado; and Diana Pekarek of Englewood, Colorado; 19 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.