Ruby Ann Bratvold

Ruby Ann (Maxwell) Bratvold, age 87, died at Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Blackduck, MN, on April 4, 2025. A funeral service will be held on April 21, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Red Lake, with a visitation taking place one hour prior. Father Tom Niehaus will officiate. Interment will be held at Greenwood Cemetery in Clearbrook, MN. Cease Family Funeral Home of Bagley assisted with arrangements.
Ruby was born in Red Lake, MN, on January 6, 1938, to Baptiste and Bertha (Smith) Maxwell. She was raised and educated in Red Lake, graduating from Red Lake High School. She married Roger Bratvold of Clearbrook, MN on August 27, 1970, in Milbank, SD. They had seven children and made their home in Red Lake, and later the family moved back to Clearbrook.
Ruby was a lifelong caregiver and homemaker, devoting her time to family. She helped with school, work, art projects, and chaperoned school trips. She welcomed the neighborhood children, and nobody left her home hungry. She held fun birthday and holiday parties with games, prizes, and homemade treats. She was once recognized with a Mother of the Year award.
During her lifetime, Ruby had many hobbies and interests. She was an excellent cook, making homemade meals and freshly baked bread. She enjoyed reading, flowers & vegetable gardening, canning, sewing, crafts, picnics, Sunday family dinners, and listening to classic country & western music. She liked camping trips and treasured family vacations to visit National Parks. She occasionally played Bingo or went dancing with Roger. She loved animals and had many cherished dogs throughout her life. She loved spending quiet summer evenings with Roger, sitting outside watching the garden grow.
In later life, Alzheimer's stole Ruby's precious memories, but she enjoyed living life in the moment by watching movies and Steve Harvey on Family Feud, doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles, cruising, playing games, and visiting with family. She loved her baby doll, ice cream, and lollipops. Ruby always valued good manners, and even with dementia, she would say please and thank you. She was pleasant with a good sense of humor, so it was easy to make her smile and laugh. She would shake her fist at the nurses, which was a sure sign that they had become her second family.
Ruby faced death multiple times, even receiving last rites, yet she consistently displayed a remarkable resilience and vitality by her ability to recover. Her inner strength, bright smile, and gentle spirit will be deeply missed by those whose lives she touched.
A heartfelt thank you to the Inpatient staff at Red Lake IHS Hospital, Blackduck Good Samaritan Society, and Sanford Hospice for the kind and compassionate care our mother received. We appreciate each and every one of you.
Ruby was welcomed into the spirit world by her parents Baptiste and Bertha; husband Roger; Son Edward J. Maxwell; daughter Luanne Strong; brothers Ed, George, Allen, Donald, Robert, and John Maxwell; sisters Joanne Maxwell Wipf, Violet and Melvina Maxwell, Leona Stately, and Gladys Rogers; son in law Daniel Wright; granddaughter Nicole Maxwell; and great-grandson Aiden Strong.
Left to cherish Ruby's memory are her daughters Michelle Maxwell, Crystal Wright, and Debra Bratvold of Bemidji, MN, and Laurel (Ervin) Lussier of Red Lake; son Darren (Karen) Bratvold of Clearbrook; son-in-law Clayton Strong Sr. of Red Lake; daughter-in-law Ramona Needham of Redby, MN; sisters June Maxwell of Blackduck and Betty King of Bemidji; along with a large extended family of nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchildren.