Ruth M. Bremer

Ruth Mary Bremer (Miller) passed away peacefully on January 17, 2025 at Regina Assisted Living in Hastings, MN after 94 vibrant and beautiful years.

Ruth was born in 1930 in Belchester, MN, “the year of the crash” as she loved to say. A force of nature, joyous, without regrets, jealousies or grievances, endlessly engaged with others in her many roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, beautician, successful business owner, Catholic school board member and member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton Catholic Church, Cub Scout den mother, Girl Scout leader, Eucharistic Minster and was always loving and loved.

As the seventh of eight kids born to a farm family, she was spared the hard work of farming and, instead, had wonderful adventures. She said everyone should grow up on a farm and loved taking rides through farm country her whole life, correctly naming every crop and every breed of cow and pig.

The family moved to Hastings when Ruth was nine and she enrolled at Guardian Angels Catholic School where all of her children would go. She made lifelong friends there and even though school wasn’t her favorite thing, she reveled in school social life. Stories abound about the parties, bowling tourneys, dances, movies and escapades, many of which she didn’t tell us until we were too old to follow in her footsteps!

Ruth was a lifelong Democrat and was thrilled to be asked to give flowers to Maragaret Truman in 1952 during a whistlestop tour with her father Harry Truman. She was also proud to vote for the first Catholic President in 1960 and the first woman major party candidate for President in 2016. She understood poverty and supported programs and policies that lifted families and workers.

Ruth went to beauty school in Winona and joined her sister Dorothy in the Hastings Beauty Salon (which she later co-owned with Jareen Doffing). Beauty work was a service for her and she went to nursing homes, hospitals and even funeral homes because she always said, “if your hair doesn’t look good, you don’t look good!”

Ruth met her husband Al in typical Ruthie fashion; she and her girlfriend were babysitting in Cannon Falls and hired a babysitter and headed to the VFW Club where they knew the guys would be. They both claimed it was love at first sight and they were married on September 24, 1953, and for 47 years until his death in 2001.

She was an extraordinary manager, raising seven kids, running her busy beauty shop with many employees, raising money for local causes, and supporting local businesses. She was ‘all in’ in everything she did and, among everything else, attended hundreds of her kids’ events including baseball games from Ely to Miesville, pinewood derby races, choir and band concerts, plays, parades, hockey games and golf tourneys.

Many incredible Ruth stories: running to the emergency room over and over with broken bones and other maladies with her sons, feeding anyone who came to our doorstep (with never a question or judgement), driving with a cigarette in one hand and pointing out who lived in every home, corn detasseling enthusiast (and a required rite of passage for most Bremer kids), and playing the piano by ear and with exuberance! Kids were treated to pajama rides complete with baby root beers and she always listened for the 5:35 train as she knew Al would soon be home.

And what a cook! She was always pulling something out of the freezer to thaw, peeling potatoes, or tipping and topping beans. We used two carts when grocery shopping and filled them (excluding the meat Al brought home from the family butcher shop). She was almost meditative in the morning when she had her kitchen to herself, with the radio tuned to KDWA and a pot of coffee. She relished the old church cookbooks and recipes from her friends and from the Mississippi Belle where several of her children worked. For Ruth, food was love, and even with the task of three meals a day for nine people, there were always cookies, cakes, pies, wonderful leftovers, and room for the many friends and family members who dropped by.

There were also many trips. Ruth was adventurous and worked 2 summers at Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks and an Amtrak trip back to Glacier in 2018 brought back many happy memories for her. She loved her trips to Ireland and Alaska with her beloved sister Audrey ‘Audie Mae’. We took her on at least a dozen trips to California, including a mud bath in Calistoga we couldn’t get her out of, a hot tub adventure when she insisted on smoking, her first massage which she put a stop to, Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and a pedicab ride to Joe Allen’s for pasta, crying at the beauty of the Statue of Liberty, Nebraska, Washington DC, Atlantic City, Tunica, Biloxi, Florida and Vegas. She had uncanny luck at the casino and may be the only gambler who went out ahead.

Family vacations were “memorable.” Often with a dozen or more kids underfoot, the parents would try to get a much needed break; lake cabins and picnics and Church festivals and bake sales and parades. There were always visits to family members, Christmas with Al’s brother Russ and his wife Grace and the Bremer cousins, the Cannon Valley Fair, Bremer Family golf outings, Miller family picnics, weddings, funerals, and baptisms.

As she aged, she hosted many card games, dinner parties, coffee and pie parties. She attended concerts with her beloved sisters, went to church every week, delivered Meals on Wheels and continued to do hair until she was 88.

In the center of it all was Ruth: friends were always welcome, there wasn’t anything that wouldn’t be forgiven, her boundless joy and love and energy, her enduring faith (even if she commented endlessly about people’s hair in church!).

We hope mom has been welcomed into the heaven she imagined and believed in by her loving God, her husband, her family, and countless friends who have preceded her. We hope there is a lively smoking section, a warmed seat at a great bridge game, and a chilled bottle of Chardonnay. We hope there’s a poker machine that “isn’t too tight” and a banquet filled with all her favorite foods, complete with hotdishes and Dilly Bars. We hope there’s a piano and the music of the angels and Tommy Dorsey. We hope she feels her belonging to all of us, to her God, and to all of life.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Gertrude Miller; her husband, Alton Bremer; sisters, Marion Peine, Bernice Sherry, Emeline Hamilton, Dorothy Loesch, Audrey Connolly; brother, Raymond Miller; and brother and sister-in-law, Russ and Grace Bremer.

Ruth is survived by her sister, Jeanne McGree; sister-in-law, Joan Miller; children, Jane, Ross, Scott, Beth, Lee (Connie), Bruce (Jackie) and Greg (Jennifer); granddaughters, Alexis and Ava; step grandchildren, Alex, Jakob (Brittany) and Jennifer; step great grandchildren, Quenten, Clayten and Niko; dozens of nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews; and godchildren.

We wish to thank the dedicated and often unrecognized care professionals who were home health aides for Ruth and who worked at Regina Assisted Living in Hastings and Grace Hospice. A special thank you to Nurse Jane Shepherd who was with her throughout her last four years. Even when her memory was failing, they all helped to make Ruth’s last years joyful, respectful, and loving. They all made sure she always had her red lipstick on, a spritz of her Chanel No. 5 and her hair combed as she would want!

A funeral mass for Ruth will be held on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 11 am at Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel, 3075 Vermillion Street, Hastings, MN. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers, Ruth would welcome contributions to Meals on Wheels (https://hastingsfamilyservice.org/programs-services/meals-on-wheels.html)

Contributions to a memorial in Ruth’s name for a ‘to be determined’ Hastings project may be sent to:

Jane Bremer

6753 Harlan Drive

Eden Prairie, MN 55346

Starkson Family Life Celebration Chapel is handling arrangements.