To Celebrate a Life of Love: Margaret Louise (Hess) Ruebsamen
September 10, 1926 – March 15, 2023
Margaret Louise (Hess) Ruebsamen, 96, of Pensacola, FL., passed away on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.
A small-town girl who saw the world. Margaret Louise Hess (Ruebsamen) was born in Des Moines, Iowa on September 10, 1926. She grew up in Watseka, Illinois and attended Illinois State Normal for a short while before marriage.
She met Darrel Dean Ruebsamen, a midshipman in the Navy wartime V-12 program at the school. She and Darrel married in Miami, Florida in 1945. They remained together until his death in 2010.
A military spouse for 30 years she travelled to and lived in many places. In the U.S. she lived in Nebraska, Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, California, and New Hampshire. Overseas she lived in Bremerhaven, Germany in the early 1950’s; Manila in the Philippines in the early 1960s and Yokohama, Japan in the early to mid-1970s. They made their retirement home in San Antonio, Texas.
While living in Germany in the 1950s she was able to visit England and several Western European countries. In the Philippines in the early 1960s she was also able to visit Japan and Hong Kong. Later, while living in Japan she visited several Asian countries including South Vietnam just before the fall of that country. In retirement she and Darrel socialized with the military retired community in San Antonio and traveled extensively. They visited with families and friends, attended Ruebsamen and Hess family reunions, Navy ship and school reunions. They traveled to Canada, Germany, Chile and throughout Europe.
Margaret and Darrel had four children, Jennifer (deceased), David (Emily) of Woodbridge, VA; Carol (Ron) of Pensacola; and Patricia (Mike) of Denham Springs, LA. She was blessed with 7 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. In death she was preceded by her parents (her mother Kathryn and her father Raymond and his second wife, Camilla), her sister (Lois Irene), brother (Eugene) as well as two half-sisters (Jane and Elizabeth).
She completed her bachelors in education in Virginia at Old Dominion College, graduating a week before her son David graduated from high school. She taught in the Department of Defense school in Yokohama, Japan. In retirement in San Antonio, she was highly active in her Catholic church. She even persuaded her Protestant husband to volunteer there for decades. She worked for a time with the San Antonio Convention Bureau.
She moved to Azalea Trace continuing care facility in Pensacola, Florida soon after her husband passed to be nearer to her children and lived there for 12 years. She loved bridge, dominos, Mexican Train, reading, sewing, quilting, and socializing. She was known to her family and friends as a meticulous dresser and housekeeper. She also never missed a chance to dote on her children and grandchildren.
A private family service will be held for her in Pensacola with a burial beside her husband in Giltner, Nebraska.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church, 9945 Hillview Drive, Pensacola, FL 32514.