Ruth Hahn

Born on the fourth of July, 1931, in the Waterville Ohio house her father built, Ruth Mary Hahn Canfield Strayer died at home on August 9, 2012. Ruth was the youngest of her German immigrant mother Marie Straus' and father Thomas Hahn's four children, with brothers William, George, and Frederick. Both the Secretary and Salutatorian of her Waterville High School Class of 1949, Ruth’s classmate Bernita Strayer Podalak became her best and oldest surviving friend. Special friend Kathy Riley of Toledo also survives. Ruth attended Davis Business College, working in payroll for both Autolite and Toledo Desk. She spent many years waitressing at Howard's Restaurant in Waterville while raising her family, then became a home healthcare aide, retiring in 1997. Ruth married John W. Canfield of Waterville on May 19, 1956, in Zion Lutheran Church, Waterville, divorcing in 1983. Four children survive: Kathleen (Brett) Sworden, John (Jody Lorenzen), William (Vicki Halliday), and David (Kim Cochran) Canfield. In 1986, Ruth married again, this time to childhood sweetheart Leroy Strayer of Neapolis, until his death in 1998. Ruth loved to visit with friends and family, in person or in letters, and crocheted endlessly, especially small white angels for everyone she cared about. One of her white angels is in her hand still. She was a member of Providence Lutheran Church, Holland, Ohio. Surviving are twelve grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, including: Cassandra, Amanda, Jennifer, and John Canfield Jr; Daniel Pakulski; Douglas Couture; Eric Tate; Louise Canfield; Kyle, Samantha, Jesse Ruth, and Katharine Sworden; and Harold Pinckney Jr. Visitation begins at noon Tuesday August 14, followed by services at 2:00 pm, at the Neville Funeral Home, Southwest Chapel, 7438 Airport Highway, Holland, (419-865-8879; with burial to follow at Wakeman Cemetery, Waterville. Memorials to Hospice of Northwest Ohio.