Ruth Olesen Kelley died Friday February 6, 2015. She was born in February 1920, when Woodrow Wilson was president of the USA and before women had the right to vote, which was gained later that year. Esther Mitchell and Charles William Olesen were her parents. Her mother was from Oxford, North Carolina and her father from Salem, Massachusetts, where Ruth was born. They met at Fort Jackson, South Carolina during World War I where Charles was an artillery officer and Esther, after college, had gone as an Army nurse trainee. They moved from Salem to Pennsylvania when Ruth was an infant; to Dallas in 1932; and then to Tulsa in 1936. Ruth attended Highland Park High School in Dallas for three years and graduated from Tulsa Central High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tulsa in 1941 where she was a member of Phi Gamma Kappa and president of Phi Mu and Panhellenic. She did graduate work at the University of Oklahoma and Tulane. She received a Master's degree from the University of Missouri. Her first job was as a social worker for the Works Progress Administration. She then worked for the American Red Cross as a liaison between WWII servicemen and their homes: both in Port Arthur, Texas and Key West, Florida. In 1942 in Tulsa, she married John Lee Kelley, who was also a University of Tulsa graduate. At the time they wed he was a Naval Aviator attached to the Atlantic Fleet with Squadron V.P. 212 doing anti-submarine warfare, which later included searchlight bombing. After the war ended, they returned to Tulsa and had three children: Scott Mitchell, Carolyn Ruth and Katherine Margaret, who died in 1996. The Kelley family moved to Springfield in 1956 to open Mulhollan Furniture Company at 331 East Water St, with a second location opened on Eastgate Blvd in 1990. The store was closed in 1998, and the Eastgate building leased to Haverty Furniture. John Kelley died in 1995. Mrs. Kelley's interests were diverse and included reading, especially historical novels and biographies; caring for plants and flowers; and bridge with friends. She loved to travel and had been to all fifty states, reaching the fiftieth, Alaska, in 1979. She also travelled to all the continents, except the Antarctic, and found all exciting and interesting. She and John especially liked England, Ireland, Denmark, Costa Rica, and Australia. She also loved visiting China in 1985. Besides being a mother and homemaker, she worked in the family business and was a teacher in Tulsa and Springfield. She taught in the fields of world history and government at Parkview and Glendale High Schools, and one year at Reed Junior High School. She said her most rewarding time was spent in the classroom as a student or teacher. She belonged to the League of Women Voters for more than four decades and was President when they conducted a successful petition drive to give voters a choice for county charter government; held a primary election forum at Battlefield Mall; published Know Your Town'; and held a biweekly half-hour TV program on KOLR 10. She was also on the Committee for Founders' Park, and was a long-time member of Southwest Missouri Museum Associates, the United Nations Association USA, the State of Missouri Children's Trust Fund, and a charter member of the City Utilities Advisory Board. In later years she was active in the Democratic Party, as she was greatly concerned about education, the environment, and social justice. She called herself an idealistic pragmatist. She belonged to the FDR Club and in 1988 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Her grandchildren are Sarah Metz of Republic, Emily Kelley of Rugby England, John Buterbaugh of New York City, Rosalie Patel and Ruthanne Shobe, both of Austin. She has three great grandsons: Isaac Metz, Elijah and Khalil Patel. She has two sisters: Margaret Corbin Raley, who died in 2012, and Marie Whittaker of Raleigh North Carolina. Marcia Powers Kelley and Phillip Buterbaugh are Scott & Carolyn's spouses, and John Shobe was married to Katherine. Zuber Patel is granddaughter Rosalie's husband, and granddaughter Emily will be married February 27, 2015 to Seth Harris-White. She was a lifelong Episcopalian and a member of Christ Episcopal Church for 58 years. Services will be held at Christ Episcopal Church at 11am Saturday, February 21, 2015. Memorial contributions will be appreciated to the Ruth Olesen Kelley Scholarship Fund for Girls at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, 425 E Trafficway St Springfield MO 65806; or to the Christ Church Foundation, 601 East Walnut, Springfield MO 65806.