Ruth Marguerite Flokstra passed into her eternal home with her Lord and Savior on August 31, 2023. She was born to Lester and Gladys Barney of Canaan, New Hampshire, on July 18, 1930, and grew up on a farm that had been in her family since 1774 and didn’t even have electricity until she left home in 1948.

Ruth graduated as valedictorian from Canaan High School and went on to further her education at North Woods Bible School in New Hampshire and Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. In the early 1950’s, she worked for New England Bible Fellowship during their summer camps and Vacation Bible School (VBS) outreaches. In her 20’s, Ruth traveled around upstate Vermont as a Rural Bible School teacher before teaching at North East Bible Institute (NEBI) in Massachusetts, serving as their registrar. It was at North East Bible Institute in 1955 that she met the love of her life, Jerry Flokstra, and went on to marry and partner with him for 63 years until his death in 2018. Together, they raised four children: Gerard (Gary) John III of Springfield, Gregg Lester of Perkin, OK, Bonnie Ruth (Beushausen) of Springfield, and Brittany Renee of Waterloo, Iowa.

Marriage to a pastor provided endless opportunities for Ruth, and she jumped in wholeheartedly. She taught Sunday School, coordinated VBS, led music ministries, and much more. Her music was a gift to many throughout her life as she played the accordion, piano, guitar, and organ and was also a beautiful vocalist.

In 1966, Jerry took a job teaching at Central Bible College, which moved them to Springfield, Missouri, where they stayed the remainder of their lives. Ruth continued sharing her generosity through teaching Sunday School at Central Assembly of God and held various positions with CBC Auxiliary. One of her most important roles was as Chief Financial Officer of the Flokstra household and various business ventures she and Jerry launched, doing all the detail work and deciphering Jerry’s notes or lack thereof. This skill provided the foundation needed for the beginnings of Africa Library Services Office, founded in 1991. Jerry was the visionary; Ruth was the wheels on the ground to make those visions a reality.

Ruth was never in want of friendships and had a deep joy of life. She was very sociable as her generosity, kindness, and genuine laugh drew people to her. She and Jerry’s house was a revolving door of visitors, dinners, and overnight guests from all over the world. Ruth enjoyed traveling, especially to the National Parks of the Western US with family or friends, as well as special visits to Scotland, Kenya, Togo, and the Philippines. In her senior years, Ruth continued to surround herself with community, joining the Red Hat Society, visiting friends most days of the week, and spending time at church most times the doors were open. Even in her old age, she amazed everyone with her tech and computer skills, keeping up with Facebook, email, and Zoom calls during the pandemic when her Sunday school class continued to meet weekly.

The family remembers her many memorized Bible verses, songs, poems, laws, and rules that could come to the fore at any moment, her sense of humor, her smile, gentle but also sometimes boisterous laugh, and her many stories of life on the farm and of a family growing, and moving, and changing. She read to her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids regularly and often. We also know she didn’t like to throw away anything “useful,” especially after going through her house of 51 years recently.

Her grandchildren remember her for her bottomless cookie jar, summer days at her swimming pool, ample toys, sleepovers, and a basement worthy of igniting the greatest of imaginations.

Ruth’s memory was impeccable. She was known to send cards for every child, grandchild, and great-grandchild, including those married into the family, every year on their birthday, often arriving on the exact day of their birthday and always with a loving, hand-written note.

Ruth’s generosity and faithfulness to her family and her Savior never wavered. Late in life, all the way up until she was 83 years old, she helped provide financial stability to 4 the World Resource Distributors by encoding nearly 50,000 books into the online database, resulting in over a half million dollars in revenue, which helped further ministry to Bible Schools, Colleges, and missionaries around the world.

Ruth is survived by her brother Reginald Barney of Canaan, NH; her sister Miriam Bennett of Lynchburg, Virginia; her children Gary (Gerard III) and Glenna Flokstra, Gregg and Sandy Flokstra, Bonnie and Hammer Beushausen, Brittany and Sue Flokstra-Hill; her grandchildren, Denee, GJ, Christopher, Ben, Bianca, Laura, Jessica, Thorsson, Abigail, Elizabeth, Nathan, Tabatha; and her great-grandchildren Keturah, Justin, Caitrin, Khloe, Cedric, Emiline, Allison, Haven, Winston, Iris, Justice, Adrian, Journey, and Phyllis.

In lieu of flowers, Ruth’s wishes where to have donations sent to 4 The World Resource Distributors.

https://4wrd.org/donate/