Ruby Mae Reber

Ruby Mae Reber, 93, died May 11, 2020, at her home in Kansas City, Missouri, with her daughter at her side. Ruby was born Aug. 23, 1926, to Clovis L. and Margaret E. (Vieritz) Boyersmith in Meadville, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Benton Harbor, Mich., where she graduated from Benton Harbor High School in 1944. She immediately was hired as a bookkeeper by the Truscott Boat & Dock Company in St. Joseph, Mich., which was making boats for the war effort. It was there, after the war, that she met her future husband. She and Calvin D. Reber married on March 12, 1948, in South Bend, Ind. They resided in the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor area until 1981, when they moved to Montgomery, Ala. Ruby worked in the offices at Memorial Hospital in St. Joseph from 1969 to 1981. She had worked earlier at Theisen Tire & Truck Supply and G.C. Murphy, both in St. Joseph. In Montgomery, Ruby worked at Kinpak, Inc., until her retirement in 1988. She was active in several organizations in Montgomery and volunteered at Baptist Medical Center East there until she moved to Kansas City in 2015. Ruby always was busy with a needlework project -- crocheting, knitting, embroidery and tatting – and was universally described as a sweet person. Ruby was preceded in death by her husband in 1997. She is survived by their daughters, Janet (Lawrence) Marsh of Kansas City and Linda (Brenton) Roberts of Saranac, Mich.; grandsons Clint (Kristine) Clemens of Ionia, Mich., and Chad (Nickole) Clemens of Fenwick, Mich., and several great grandchildren. Arrangements have been entrusted to Starks & Menchinger Chapel. A private Celebration of Life Graveside service will be held at a later date at Spring Run Cemetery, St. Joseph, MI. Those wishing to leave an online condolence may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com.