Ruby O. Ernest

BELLE FOURCHE - Ruby O. Ernest, 91, Belle Fourche and formerly of Newell, died Tuesday, December 30, 2003, at the Belle Fourche Long Term Care Center. Visitation will be Friday from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. at Kinkade Funeral Chapel and Saturday one hour prior to the services at the church in Belle Fourche. Funeral services will be Saturday, January 3, 2004, at 11 a.m. at St. James Lutheran Church in Belle Fourche with Rev. Hans Sacrison officiating. Burial will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Hope Cemetery in Newell. Ruby was born January 26, 1912, at a claim shack southwest of Belle Fourche, SD, to Irwin and Mary E. (Bivins) Bosworth. Her parents moved to an area near Sundance, WY, when she was five years old. She attended school near Sundance and attended Spearfish High School. Ruby went to work for Homestake Mining Company near Moskee, WY, in 1928. In 1930, she was transferred to Nemo. Ruby was married to Robert D. Conner in 1931. The couple lived at Nemo until March of 1938 when they moved to Newell. They owned and operated Bob's Sinclair Service Station in Newell until Bob's death in 1950. Ruby married Ervin Ernest on October 9, 1952. They lived on a ranch north of Belle Fourche on the Moreau River for 18 years. After Ervin's death in 1970, Ruby returned to Newell where she worked at the Corner Cafe and the school cafeteria until her retirement. In 1995, Ruby moved to the John Burns Apartments in Belle Fourche. In August of 2003, she moved to the Belle Fourche Long Term Health Care Center. While in Newell, Ruby was a member of the Congregational Church, Royal Neighbors, Rebecka Lodge, and the NVN Senior Citizens Center. She was a member of St. James Lutheran Church in Belle Fourche and the Belle Fourche Senior Citizens. Survivors include two sons and their wives, Robert and Vea Conner, Tempe, AZ, and Dan and Cindi Conner, Belle Fourche; one daughter and her husband, Ruth and Leonard Henry, Temple, TX; one brother, Lou Bosworth, Truth Or Consequences, NM; eight grandchildren, Gary Conner, Deanna Weaver, Annette Conner, Charles Henry, Robert Henry, Cody Conner, Chip Conner, and Blake Conner; and seven great-grandchildren, Danny and Dustin Thomson, Eric, Theadore, and Griffin Conner, Truitt Stroh, and Jacob Henry. Ruby was preceded in death by her parents, one infant son, William in 1935, her husband, Robert, her husband, Ervin, one sister, and two brothers. A memorial has been established to the Belle Fourche Senior Citizens Center.