September 12, 1924 ~ July 6, 2016
Ruth Criss Vigus, age 91, of Indianapolis died July 6, 2016. She was born September 12, 1924, in Clay County, Indiana, to Judge Herbert R. Criss and Versal B. White Criss.
Survivors include her husband of 66 years, Eugene F. “Gene” Vigus; daughters Jane Ann Vigus Steiner (Keith) and Judy K. Vigus and two grandchildren, Courtney L. & Kurt V. Steiner, many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, 5 brothers: Harold, Tony, Paul, Fred and Lee and 2 sisters: Naomi Criss Mascari and Ramona Ashcraft, as well as all of their spouses.
She was a 1942 graduate of Wiley High School and a 1946 graduate of Indiana State Teacher’s College (later ISU) in Terre Haute, IN. She was a member of the Gamma Gamma Sorority, and was very active in the ground work to get national sororities to the Indiana State Campus. She taught in high school for a couple of years, but preferred being out in the business world. She was an active member of the Lawrence United Methodist Church, a member of the Indianapolis Board of Realtors for many years, a member of the DAR, worked at the genealogy workshop of the Caroline Scott Harrison Chapter, was a member of the National Mortar Board Society, and was an avid collector of pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House, helping to collect over 5 million pop tabs.
Visitation will be on Thursday, July 14 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services - Lawrence, 5215 N. Shadeland Ave., Indianapolis. Funeral service will be Friday, July 15 at 10:00 a.m. at Lawrence United Methodist Church, 5200 Shadeland Ave., Lawrence, IN. Entombment will be private.
The family kindly requests that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Lawrence United Methodist Church or the Ronald McDonald House of Indiana, envelopes will be available at both the funeral home and church.
May each of you find courage to face tomorrow as you rest in the knowledge that we truly care about each of your needs and that we will be here to walk beside you in your journey of grief.
Eddie Beagles and the staff of Legacy Cremation & Funeral Services
One of my earliest memories of Aunt Ruth was neither momentous nor harrowing but was, to the contrary, so uneventful I find it remarkable I have remembered it for more than half a century.
It was a Hoosier spring or summer day at Grandpa’s cabin near Bowling Green, Indiana. The year was probably in the late 1950s. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Gene were seated at the weathered wooden picnic table next to the little fishing pond on Grandpa’s forty wooded acres. I don’t remember what brought me to “The Cabin” that day but I enjoyed being around my Aunt and Uncle because they always displayed a good sense of humor and I think they liked me. Anyway the only object on top of the table was a cloth, bank bag of coins—pennies—through which my Aunt and Uncle were searching for the stray specimen needed to complete their collection. They were talking and having as much fun enjoying the outdoors and each other as I was at my child’s play.
Decades later Aunt Ruth surprised me by relaying one of her memories of me that I had forgotten—perhaps because I was only two or three years old at the time. My daughter, Emily, and I were visiting Aunt Ruth during which Aunt Ruth relayed an incident where I grabbed a branch of the real, seven-foot tall Christmas tree—decorated with lights and ornaments—proudly adorning our living room at my parent’s house. Aunt Ruth said I yanked the branch causing the tree to topple over and when I did so my mother said something like, “Now, Charles, you shouldn’t do that” which admonition Aunt Ruth thought overly indulgent. Aunt Ruth obviously enjoyed telling me this because she smiled as she relayed it and because she knew my daughter was hearing this for the first time. Aunt Ruth laughed as she informed me that were I her son and that happened at her house she would have turned me on her knee and spanked the daylights out of me. Emily and I got as much enjoyment hearing the story as did Aunt Ruth in telling it.
Aunt Ruth, I will surely miss your smile, laughter, kindness and sense of family.
Your Nephew, Charles Herbert Criss
rest in peace.