Ruth Florene (Vogel) Barter, age 89, of Shawnee, Kansas entered eternal rest with the Lord on July 16, 2025. A proud wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt, Ruth embraced life with fierce passion and unwavering resolve. Guided by the motto – “Honesty is the best policy” – she lived with integrity, sincerity, and devotion.
Born on May 2, 1936, in Greensburg, Indiana, she was the fifth of six children. She cultivated a love for gardening and fine carpentry from her father, and learned cooking, baking, and sewing from her mother. At nine, she joined 4-H, where she honed these talents and won many county and state fair ribbons. During her senior year of high school, she was selected as Queen of the Decatur County Fair.
In 1954, she moved to Indianapolis to study nursing at St. Vincent Hospital, where she covered shifts for a dollar an hour. In 1957, she graduated with a nursing degree and six weeks later passed the Indiana State Boards. In 1958, she married George, moved to Kansas, and began working at St. Mary’s hospital.
In 1965, they moved into the house George designed and built from scratch. Over the years, Ruth enjoyed decorating the house by wallpapering rooms and finishing each with hand-sewn draperies and upholstered furniture. As the house filled with their seven children, she strove to teach them resilience, independence, and honesty. She loved playing all types of card games, especially Cribbage, Euchre, Pinochle, and Canasta, and any table talk or hint of cheating would be sternly called out.
Ruth loved to travel. Favorite trips with George include a train ride across Canada, taxiing around Mackinac Island in Michigan, and visiting Hawaii and Alaska. Closer to home, she never missed an opportunity to visit her grandchildren in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. She hosted the first “Vogel Shindig” in 1983 with more than 80 relatives in attendance and helped host or plan eight subsequent gatherings.
An accomplished seamstress, she drove her beloved all-metal Bernina like a well-oiled Indy car – quite the upgrade from her mother’s treadle operated sewing machine. Early on, she made many matching outfits for herself and her children and altered many, many garments. She hand-sewed her own wedding dress and those worn by her five daughters. She understood fabric, cutting patterns with precision, giving silk a sway, and adding Grosgrain ribbon for detail. In her hands, not a stitch would be wasted or a fiber ignored. She crafted garments that carried memory, meaning, and love.
Later in her career she studied and passed the exam to become a Certified Clinical Research Coordinator. Over a 15-year period, she studied migraine treatments with the esteemed Dr. Dewey Ziegler at the Kansas University Medical Center. Proud of her vocation, she felt solidarity with her sisters who also trained as nurses and other medical professionals, including those who cared for her.
Ruth attended daily mass as a faithful member of St. Joseph parish. She started a bereavement group there and fired up her Bernina to sew blankets and other articles of clothing for people in homeless shelters or who were pregnant.
She is survived by her husband of 67 years, George; her children (spouses / partners), Marilyn (John), Debra, Anita (Roger), Paul (Julie), Laura (Paul), Phillip (Stacy), and Karen (Tim); her grandchildren (spouses / partners), Tiffannie (Jason), Nathalie, Jessica (Jerrod), Mary (Todd), Garrett (Jimi), Lawson (Annemarie), Caleb (Emilie), Anthony (Rachel), Eliza (Chris), Luke, Luke, Brooke, Samuel, Tanner, Thomas, and Leo; her great grandchildren, Alexis, Morghan, José, Collin, Olivia, Arya, Vincent, Cecilia, Reed, LJ, Audrey, Simon, and John; her sister, Esther; brother-in-law, Rick; and many nieces, nephews, and others she considered her own. She is reunited in Heaven with her parents, Albert and Frances; siblings (spouses), Albert (Mary Ann), Maury (Irene), Mary Louise (Joseph), (Jack), and Janet; son-in-law, Steve; grandchildren, Valari, Taylor, and Truman; great granddaughter, Madeline; and other relatives.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, July 24 at 10:00 AM at St. Joseph Catholic Church (11311 Johnson Dr, Shawnee, KS), followed by the Rite of Committal at St. Joseph Cemetery. The Vigil Prayer Service will be held on Wednesday, July 23 at 5:00 PM followed by the visitation until 7:00 PM at Porter Funeral Home (8535 Monrovia, Lenexa, KS).
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Catholic Community Health Services at 16600 W 126th St., Olathe, KS 66062 or St. Joseph Catholic Church at 11311 Johnson Dr., Shawnee, KS 66203.
“May perpetual light shine upon her and may she rest in the peace of Christ.”