Jan.
23, 1922 - April 2, 2010SOUTH BEND - Helen Bostwick Ruchti, 88, died in Memorial Hospital, South Bend, IN, on Good Friday, April 2, 2010. The cause of death was complications of congestive heart failure. She was born in Janesville, WI, on January 23, 1922, fifth of the five children of Charles Blake Bostwick (1887-1924) and Marie Magdelena Tuisl Bostwick (1889-1969), and was the last surviving of that generation. She was a graduate of Janesville High School (1939) and Milwaukee Downer College (1943). On July 3, 1945, she married James Robert Ruchti (1921-2000) of Janesville. Over his 40-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, she would live in Vancouver, Montreal, Berlin, Bonn, Nairobi and Stuttgart. On retirement, the couple divided their time between Washington, DC, and Edgerton, WI. From 1997 she made her residence in South Bend, IN. She is survived by her three children, Randal Charles Ruchti of South Bend, Jefri Jay Ruchti of Guilford, CT, and Jamie Ann Hester of Bowie, MD; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her ashes have been interred at Oak Hill Cemetery, Janesville, next to those of her husband. A memorial service will be held at First English Lutheran Church, 16495 Ireland Road, Mishawaka, IN, on Sunday, May 30, at 10:30 a.m. An informal reception will follow at the church. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Indiana University of South Bend Schurz Library in the name of Helen B. Ruchti.