Atlas Twp.’Ruth and Harold Steinhoff figured if they raised 14 children, then downtown Flint was not the place.
So, after purchasing the 120 acre Stonehill Farm on Horton Road west of Goodrich in the 1940s, Ruth and Harold moved the troops from the city to the county in 1957.
Life changed in a lot of ways for the family.
‘We were city kids now living on a farm,? said Lee Steinhoff, one of Ruth’s sons. ‘Mom loved it once she got out there, we had a big garden and us kids had to do everything from ironing to milking cows, Mom would say, ‘if you didn’t have 12 jobs you weren’t working.??
Ruth Steinhoff, 94, died June 12 at Genesys Hospice Care Center in Goodrich. Ruth had lived in Atlas Township for more than 40 years. A private service was held with burial at Crestwood Cemetery.
‘Mom started having kids when she was 22 years old and was still having them at 47,? added Lee.
‘Mom would cook everything on high, full-blast, just to get us kids out of the kitchen, she canned everything, and was the queen of apple pies.?
Nancy Dugas, 72, a local resident since 1959 and a long-time family friend recalls the day the Steinhoff farm house was distoryed by fire.
‘The original farm house burned to the ground in the1970s and they were only able to a save few items,? said Dugas.
‘I was there soon after the fire’it was still smoldering, Ruth was just standing there watching her house burn, with no expressions. She seemed so resilient to the fire. She rebounded very quickly and they rebuilt.?
Dugas, added how stoic Ruth remained through the total loss of her home.
At 56 years old, when the last child left the house Ruth started working outside the home at Wheelock Memorial Hospital, she worked there until she was 76 years old and retired in 1987.
Despite adversity, Ruth was true to her word.
‘Along about 1960, there was a major blizzard and just a cold winter day. It was Ruth’s day to pickup the boys for basketball practice,? said Jeri Petherbridge, 80, a long time neighbor and friend of Ruth.
‘I thought there was no way would she make it to our house to pick up the boys, but she came through all that snow and go em for an early morning practice. If Ruth said she’d be there you could count on it.?
Ruth was born on April 4, 1909, the daughter of Arthur and Caroline (Limb) Ward. She was a member of Goodrich Chapter No. 481, Order of Eastern Star. Surviving are 12 children, Ardis and husband Alfred Bowers, William and wife Patricia, Adelma and husband Robert Medford, Howard and wife Jill, Edward D., Linda and husband Wayne Jackson, Richard, Allen and wife Georgia, Carl and wife Paula, A. Lee, David and Susan Seinhoff; daughter-in-law, Lois Seinhoff; 21 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; brother, William and wife Irene Ward; several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Harold James Steinhoff in1981; two sons, Harold James Jr. and Steven Steinhoff; brothers and sisters.