Ruth Ann Mcdonald

Ruth Ann (Cook) McDonald
15 September 1953 – 18 December 2019
Ruth Ann (Cook) McDonald slipped the surly bonds of Earth and joined the angels in Heaven on 18 December 2019.
Ruth was born on 15 December 1953 in Niles, Michigan to Fred and Ruth C. Cook. Ruth graduated from Niles High School in June 1971. Almost a year later, she enlisted in the U.S. Army whereupon she completed her Women’s Army Corps (WAC) Basic Training at Ft. McClelland, Alabama. Following basic, Ruth received Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana to become an Army Postal Clerk.
Her first duty station was at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, El Paso, Texas. It was there she met her lifelong partner, Lawrence A. McDonald, a soldier assigned to the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, Ft. Bliss, Texas, also in El Paso. Ruth and Al (his middle name) were married on 28 January 1973 and remained together for the following 46 years until her demise in December 2019.
During those 46 years, Ruth and Al shared many travels and adventures, the first 22, courtesy of the Army. They spent a combined 6 years (3 years at a time) assigned to the Federal Republic of Germany. On the first tour, Ruth was a soldier, working as a Postal Clerk for the Schweinfurt branch of the Army Post Office. They returned to the U.S. in 1977 whereupon Ruth was discharged from the Army after 5 years of honorable military service. On the second tour, Ruth now traveled as a wife and mother for Al, now stationed as a Chief Warrant Officer and helicopter pilot for the 2d Armored Calvary Regiment stationed in Nuremburg. They returned to the U.S. again in 1983.
While traveling and visiting various duty stations, Ruth bore 5 children: Larry, Grant, Vicki, Joe and Christina, respectively. In 1989, Ruth and the children moved to Indianapolis to await Al’s retirement from the Army, which occurred in July 1993. While performing her duties as a mother and wife, Ruth also worked on and off as a retail associate for Sears in Washington Square and as a Store Manager for Village Pantry.
In 2004, when their last child graduated from High School, Ruth and Al moved to Cedar City, Utah, where they remained until June 2017. For seven years, Ruth was a retail associate for Walmart, until illness curtailed her working ability. They moved back to the Indianapolis area where they resided in Greenfield, Indiana.
After a long battle with cancer and several strokes, Ruth passed away, surrounded by her children and husband at Hancock Regional Hospital. She was the last of the Cook family, being preceded in death by her mother and father; brothers, Robert and John; and her sister, Josephine (Cook) Clark.
Ruth will be sorely missed by all her friends and family but will live on in our memories as a hero and veteran of the Cold War Era, and as a wife, mother and friend.
There will be a Celebration of Life from 12pm to 5pm on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the VFW Post 2693, 529 Apple Street, Greenfield, Indiana 46140.