Lewis Ruter

Lewis Ruter, age 92, of Willmar, died Sunday evening, May 6, at Bethesda Grand Nursing Home in Willmar.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, May 12, at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar. Interment will be at Fairview Cemetery in Renville. Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 11, at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home and will continue one hour prior to the service on Saturday. Memorials are preferred to Rice Hospice.

Lewis "Lewie" Lucas Ruter was born in Willmar on December 15, 1925. He was the fourth son and one of twelve children of Jalla and Jennie (DeVries) Ruter. Because his family moved frequently, Lewie attended school in Kerkhoven, Paynesville, Spicer, and at Windy Hill School in New London. After quitting school, Lewie began farming with his dad. When he was 18, he began working with Great Northern Railroad and worked on the railroad for 15 years. He later worked in Greenland for a few months during the Cold War. Lewie then moved to St. Paul and worked in the boiler room at Kopper's Coke for 15 years and then drove bus for Metropolitan Transit for 10 years, before retiring at age 60.

Lewie enjoyed playing softball and boxing, He boxed with his brothers, Martin and George, in Golden Gloves for several years. Lewie also loved to dance and frequented the Green Lake and Marigold Ballrooms. In later years, he could often been seen dancing at the weekly Willmar senior's dance day. He liked to travel and toured mainland Europe, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Alaska, and Mexico. When he was a child, Lewie learned to yodel by listening to the yodeling cowboy, Eddy Arnold, on a nickelodeon. He became a proficient yodeler and also played the harmonica. He was often asked to yodel or play harmonica to entertain his family and friends. Lewie was also an inventor and had four patents on his inventions.

He is survived by three sisters: Rosella (and Duaine) Nelson, Geraldine Pates, and Victoria Eisenbeisz; many nieces and nephews; and a host of other family and friends.

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