A service to celebrate the life of Ruth Louise Peters Hurst will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 3, 2020 at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, Camden. The family will receive friends following the service at the church. Memorials may be made to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2200 Lee Street, Columbia, SC, 29205. Ruth Louise Peters Hurst, given life by her Creator, was born on January 5, 1919, the child of Clara Rosa Buethe and Gustav Robert Peters. She was baptized, confirmed and married in her home church, St. Peter’s Lutheran, in Elk Creek, Nebraska. https://stpeterselkcreek.weebly.com. Her first 24 years in this country church environment provided a solid foundation for the faith that carried her through many trials and joys in life. Her 24 years on the family farm with parents, brothers, sisters, pony Ginger, pet German Shepherd and numerous farm animals included days of helping in the fields, keeping the kitchen wood stove burning, overseeing delivery of the ice box ice blocks, climbing the windmill, carrying buckets of water from well to house, helping lift bales of hay to the hayloft, spending hours by the creek and timber area surrounding the farm, driving all manner of farm equipment, and making cloth dolls stuffed with sheep wool caught on a wire fence. She sometimes worried about gypsies coming to the farmhouse door if she was home alone. She thrived in her role as president of the Luther League church group, was timid about going to high school in the nearest town of Tecumseh where she became vice president of her class and popular classmate. The youngest of five, she loved her two older sisters, Eleanor and Alma, who jumped into bed with her on cold winter nights, tutored her with difficult math problems, sewed clothes for her and advised her. She loved her two brothers, Ray and Orval (Jake), who loved and teased her, once making her cut off the head of a chicken before they would take her dancing, knowing how she loved to dance. She married her high school sweetheart, Hudson Rupert Hurst, on June 6, 1942 after realizing he was her chosen mate during their jr. high school play, “Growing Pains” in which they played the lead roles. After marriage, her life took on a new, international direction. Her husband, age 25, shipped to Wyoming to train over 120 men for war, and soon left for Europe and his role in WWII. Over time, Ruth grew into the stalwart officer’s wife - aiding other soldiers’ wives, planning and carrying out innumerable activities, learning to move from state to state and country to country, setting up house anew each time, with a unique ability to create a warm home environment with every move. While her husband was stationed in Germany after WWII, she aided East German refugees coming into West Germany by translating/interpreting their needs. Her knowledge of German (her grandmother spoke only German; her parents used it often) served her well during two military tours in Germany. Other tours in many countries and states followed. God blessed Ruth’s life with two children, Hudson Rupert Hurst, Jr. (deceased), and Mary Ann Hurst. As a mother, Ruth provided endless opportunities: puppet shows in German parks, ice skating, skiing, swimming, Brownies and Girl Scouts (where she was troop leader), used her knitting and refined sewing skills to make clothing - even for Barbie dolls, encouraged choir singing (where she also participated), and enthusiastically supported boundless adventures. Ruth met and loved many special people - a growing retinue of friends worldwide including Japanese, Germans, Thais , ambassadors, church leaders, all manner of people. Her first goal in any move was to find Missouri Synod Lutheran Church services, which she managed to find in almost every country and state in which she lived or visited:Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, England, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, China, Saudi Arabia, Iceland. In the US she lived in Nebraska, Missouri, New York, Virginia, Texas, Oregon, Wyoming, California, Georgia, Illinois, South Carolina. She always kept tight to her roots in Nebraska and loved returning to the home farm as often as possible, even as she became a world citizen. Ruth is predeceased by her husband, COL Hudson R. Hurst, USA (ret), her parents, sisters and brothers. She is survived by her daughter, Mary Ann Hurst, numerous nieces, nephews and cousins, and a world full of friends. On August 30, 2020, early on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, the Lord brought her, the embodiment of sunshine, Home.