Ruth C. Reaves, age 97, of Brookings, died Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at the Brookings Hospital in Brookings. Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M. Monday, May 21, 2012, at First United Methodist Church in Brookings, with interment in the Colman Cemetery. Visitations will be from 3-5 P.M. Sunday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to First United Methodist Church, the American Heart Association, or charity of your choice. Ruth Claire (Krumm) Reaves was born August 30, 1914, at Volga, South Dakota, to Fred and Ellen (Fothergill) Krumm in Volga, South Dakota. She attended college for one year, and taught school for two years. She worked as a cashier at the Red Owl Grocery Store in Brookings, where she met her future husband, John. On November 30, 1945, she married John Henry Reaves at the Methodist parsonage in Colman. They farmed near Colman until John died in 1968. Ruth moved to Brookings in 1972. Survivors include four children: Marian (Duke) Page Jeffers of Houston, Texas, Marilyn (Gary) Fitch of Omaha, Nebraska, Ellie (Mark) Raap Denes of Kansas City, Missouri, and Shirley (Richard) Wynia of Manhattan, Kansas; eleven grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews, including Wilbur and Kenneth Schwartz of Volga, South Dakota; and a brother-in-law, Harry (Lorraine) Reaves of Flandreau, South Dakota. She was preceded in death by her husband, John; her parents, Fred and Ellen Krumm; four brothers: Bert, Floyd, Herman, and Marcus; and four sisters: Lillian, Ethel, Myrtle, and Mary.