RUBY J. KNEEN, 86, longtime Cherokee, Iowa resident, passed away Friday morning, December 26, 2008, in the Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa following a short illness.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, December 30th, at 11 a.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee. Rev. Missy Brown will officiate and burial will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery at Cherokee. There will be a family prayer service at 10:45 a.m. at the funeral home on Tuesday. Visitation will be on Monday from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. with the family present from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com.

Ruby was born on June 10, 1922 in Guthrie County, Iowa to John and Laura (Maxwell) Summers. She graduated from Wilson High School in 1940. She was married to Shelby Kneen on June 5, 1943 at Lincoln, Nebraska. She had lived in Cherokee most of her life. She was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cherokee. Besides caring for her family and her home, Ruby had worked as a telephone operator, helped manage a family restaurant and farmed with her husband. She loved gardening, fishing, walking and spending time with her family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Shelby on December 29, 1999, a son Michael Kneen, four brothers Harold, Clyde, Ellsworth and Maxwell Summers; three sisters Leta Swezey, Grace Sjoblom and Jacqueline Moore

She is survived by one son and one daughter: Terry Kneen and his wife Dulcie of Springfield, Oregon; Nancy Kneen of Kearney, Nebraska; 3 grandchildren: Austin and Molly Kneen and Kaelin Kneen, a brother-in-law Bernard Moore of Council Bluffs, Iowa; 2 sisters-in-law: Olive Summers of North Platte, Nebraska and Eleanor Kneen of North Carolina; many nieces and nephews.