Ruth A. Fagen

Ruth A. Fagen 1921—2016
Ruth A Fagen, 94, died peacefully Saturday, March 12, 2016, at her home in Rockford, IL. She was born in Eldridge, Iowa on July 26, 1921, the daughter of Rudolf and Ida (Johnston) Brockmann. While working in Davenport, IA, she met Israel Fagen, and they married on October 21, 1940. Ruth was devoted to her husband and supported his volunteer activities as well as working with him at his office. Ruth loved entertaining, and their New Year's Day open house was well-attended throughout the 1940s and 1950s. They were in love and joyously affectionate until his death in 1967. She was equally devoted to her children, engaging in their interests of science, art, and sports. She supported causes in the Rockford area, crossing boundaries of religion, race, and age: as air raid block captain in the 1940s; gathering a group of neighbors to make bandages for cancer patients in the 1950s as well annually tracking incidences of cancer on her block in a 20-year study for American Cancer Society. She created an Arbor Day contest for Barbour School, in which one child in each schoolroom received a sapling as an award for their winning artwork or essay related to Arbor Day. In conjunction with this contest, she collaborated with the Men's Garden Club to plant ten trees in the Barbour School grounds facing Montague Rd. In the 1960s, she researched the life of Julia Lathrop in order to support the naming of a new elementary school after Ms. Lathrop. Ruth also assisted a retired librarian in creating a library for Marsh School. She organized a group to learn to write Braille in order to reproduce reading material for the blind. During this time, she volunteered for the annual Temple Beth-El Food-a-Rama and the Hadassah rummage sale, as well as several Saint Joseph's altars throughout Rockford. In the 1970s, she walked several years in the Cerebral Palsy Walk-a-Thon, and volunteered with the Rockford Memorial School of Nursing's ChildPrints program, helping to create videotapes of children to be given to their parents for use in the event of a child missing. She participated in a literacy program, tutoring adult non-readers. In the 1980s, after retiring from Barber Colman's IT department, she transformed Rockford Public Library's gift shop into a permanent used book store, and managed it until her retirement ten years later; she was also a charter member of the Rockford Public Friends of the Library. She won several awards for her volunteer work, including the Rockford Public Library volunteer of the year in 1990, and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)/Cornerstone Resources Senior of the Year in 1998. Ruth loved sports (including golf, baseball, and boomerang throwing) and nature, especially bird watching, and could imitate cardinals and turkeys that brought those avian visitors to our backyard whenever she called. Animals were attracted to Ruth, and the family rescued all of the animals that found their way to her home. She treated them with affection and dignity. In the last four years of her life, she was beset by a number of unfortunate health problems, but maintained her great sense of humor throughout all of them. She will be remembered for her humor and her resilience. She is survived by her sons, David (Patricia), Aaron (Trish); daughter, Diane; and cat, Addie; brothers, Alan and Charles Brockmann; sister-in-law, Shirley Orwitz; three grandchildren, Todd (Vanessa), Joel (Sara), and Elizabeth; two step grandchildren, Kate (Thad) Rahn, and Thomas Helgerson; great-granddaughter, Sophia; great-grandson, Isaac; nieces and nephews, Laura (Mark) Presting and Eric (Peggy) Brockmann, Marsha (Robert) Tepper and Steven (Dianne) Orwitz. Preceded in death by parents, husband, and brothers, Lawrence and Arthur. Ruth was sustained by her long-time friendships with Jeanette Penn from elementary school, and Leslie and Kelly Oswald, and Sarah Reynolds. We are grateful to her kind, humorous, and excellent physician, Dr. Craig Rogers, and to her wonderful caregivers, Madeline Randazzo, Theresa Blum, and Elizabeth Bidzinski. A special thanks to Shawn Cremer at Fitzgerald Funeral Home for his kind and helpful guidance.
An open house for remembrance will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 31st, 2016, at the University of Illinois-Rockford, 1601 Parkview Avenue in Rockford. All are welcome. Online condolences at www.FitzgeraldFh.com -