Ruby Krause, age 88 of Dunseith, died Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at the hospital in Rugby, North Dakota. Visitation will be Thursday, August 6, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Nero Funeral Home in Bottineau, North Dakota. A private graveside service will be held at the Riverside Cemetery, rural Dunseith.

Ruby was the daughter of Emil and Emilia (Flath) Torno and was born on January 24, 1932 at Max, North Dakota. She was reared there and graduated from Max High School in 1950. She then attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, where she earned her teaching certificate. After college, Ruby moved to Drake, North Dakota where she taught elementary school. It was there that she met and then married Howard Krause on June 12, 1955 at Max, North Dakota.

Ruby and Howard made their home on the original Blumhagen, then Krause family farm south of Drake. It was there that they began their family of four children.

Ruby went on to earn her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Minot State College. In 1971, Ruby and Howard moved to Dunseith, North Dakota and Ruby continued her teaching career for the Dunseith Public School System, first as the Title 1 instructor, then as the school librarian, which was her college minor and as she often said, her first love. She went on to earn her Master's Degree in Elementary Administration from NDSU and was for a time, the Elementary Principal at the Dunseith Elementary. After her retirement she went on to serve on the Dunseith Public School Board, and eventually returned part-time from retirement to serve as the Gifted and Talented Instructor, in which she also held a certification.

Howard passed away in December of 2005 and Ruby continued to reside at their home in Dunseith until September of 2019 when she moved to the Dunseith Community Nursing Home, where she resided until her death.

Ruby was an enthusiastic member of Peace Lutheran Church in Dunseith, where she was very active in many capacities until her death. She was a staunch believer of Christianity in action and not just words.

Ruby and Howard grew to love watching birds in their backyard where Howard created a garden oasis, and for a time Ruby participated in reporting bird activity to the state. Everyone knew that Ruby loved to read and her home was full of books. She enjoyed her reading group and sharing books with anyone who was interested, especially her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who were always recipients of books at birthdays and Christmas.

Ruby loved Jeopardy and would often ask people to call back after the show was done because she didn't want to miss a moment, and she also watched the Minnesota Twins and in the earlier years kept track of who the players were and who should stay and who should go. Her alternate team was the Boston Red Socks because of Ted Williams. She loved Prairie Public and CNN. Ruby loved to debate politics and read the newspaper every day, and really enjoyed beating people at Scrabble and Boggle. She had no mercy when it came to word games and would tell you so in advance, and would always correct your grammar so you could better yourself, often to the eye roll of her children and grandchildren, but we learned. Teaching never ended for her.

She loved her family so much, and reveled in interacting with her numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Ruby is survived by 3 sons: William Howard of Drake, Thomas Jay (Gail) of Dunseith, Paul Franklin of Grafton, and one daughter, Amy Joanne, (Curtis Alkire) of Hazen. She has 9 grandchildren: Louie (Nicole) LaVallie, Erin (Jordan) Simek, Janel (Lee) Houle, Jessica (Brad) Grube, Whitney (Chris) Tigges, Stephanie LaVallie, Shawna Kamastra, Thomas (Tamara) Poitra, Kassandra (Robert Falcon) Poitra, 23 great grandchildren, sister Sylvia (Frank) Crosby and brother Delton (Vi) Torno, sister in law Carol Torno, and the nieces, nephews and also great nieces and nephews, who were so very special to her as well. Thank you Tom, for taking such good care of her in her later years.

She was preceded in death by her husband Howard, her parents Emil and Emilia, and her brothers Marlin Torno and Lowell Torno.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to Peace Lutheran Church in Dunseith, the American Heart Association or the Nature Conservancy.