Ruth Strodtman joined the heavenly choir on January 5, 2023.

A celebration of life will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, January 13, 2023, at Parkade Baptist Church, 2102 N. Garth Ave., Columbia, Missouri 65202, with the family greeting friends from 11 a.m. until the time of the service. Following the service, burial will take place in Oakland Cemetery, 2929 E. Oakland Church Rd., Columbia, Missouri 65202.

Ruth Strodtman was born to Aleph Goff Pierce and Clara Mildred McCauley Pierce on October 8, 1933, in Brown Station, Missouri. She attended rural schools in Boone County, Missouri, and graduated from University High School in 1951, after which she attended Christian College in Columbia. She graduated from there in 1953. She then attended the University of Missouri, where she received a degree in education in 1955. After she graduated, she worked in a doctor’s office in Columbia until she was hired as a music teacher in Hallsville, Missouri. She taught there until 1959.

She met her husband, David, while she was the music director at Fayette Baptist Church. She married him in June of 1958 while he was a student at the University of Missouri. They moved to Lakewood, Colorado, in 1962 when David found a teaching assignment in the Denver Public Schools. After rearing three children, she taught music at Dunstan Junior High School and taught there for twenty years. During their 42 years in Colorado, Ruth was very active as a church music director, working with youth, adults, and senior adults at her home churches. She took several youth choirs to youth church competitions as well as tours to various states, including one through the state of Missouri to sing at local churches. Many of her senior choirs entertained at senior care centers in Colorado and Missouri. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, one brother, and her son, Jonathan, who was a master craftsman, shop teacher, and soccer coach in Colorado and later at Hickman High School. He was married to Kay, and they had four children.

Ruth leaves behind her husband of 64 years, David, a son, Paul (Barbara); a daughter, Leah (David), grandchildren Grayson, Stephanie, Levi, Cassandra (Nathan), Chelsea (Dan), Garrett, Kaitlyn (Ally), William and great-grandchildren Annabelle, Harper, Rory, Evelyn, and Noah.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tennessee 38105.

Bach-Yager Funeral Chapel is honored to serve the Strodtman Family.