Ruth Irene Mundt (née Raguse) peacefully passed away just nine days shy of her 101st birthday, surrounded by loving family and friends. She lived proudly and independently in her beloved home in Manhattan, IL up until the week of her passing.

Ruth was born May 31, 1925 in Ransom, IL to George L. Raguse, a blacksmith, and Clara Anna Marie Baker Raguse, baptized July 12, 1925 (and later confirmed) at St. Paul's UCC in Monee, IL. She was the fifth of nine children (Earl, Dorothy, Lyle, Viola, Ruth, Lucille, Jessie, Bessie, and Ramon) and attended grade school and her first 2 years of high school in Monee.

She recalled her mother baking bread in an earthen oven dug into the ground, living off of their vegetable garden, and rare days when her father traded a farmer for some meat. They walked miles to and from school every day, and she remembers getting electricity in their home sometime in high school. When the high school moved to Peotone and it was now too far to walk, she couldn't afford the $3 bus fee and was about to drop out, when a kind teacher offered to pay her to wash blackboards and clean classrooms to earn the money to continue. She did, and graduated from Peotone High School in 1943. She worked as a bookkeeper before she met Kenneth Mundt, a WWII Army veteran and talented accountant. They were married on June 26, 1949 at Immanuel UCC Church in Peotone.

The couple settled in a two-story brick home in Manhattan, IL in 1952 and raised 4 rambunctious, alliterative boys– Gordon, born in 1951, Gregg in 1953, Gene in 1957, and Gerry in 1962. Their home and adjacent yard became a sports complex of sorts, the site of neighborhood pick-up games and innumerable broken windows. They spent many years as proud spectators of their sons' various athletic and academic pursuits. Ruth relished the chaos and thrived in her role as a homemaker, baker, gardener, and seamstress.

She worked 10 years as a librarian and 3 as assistant librarian for Manhattan Public Library and loved passing on her love of reading to her neighbors, especially children. She was a devoted parishioner of St. Paul's UCC in Manhattan for over 70 years.

She delighted in welcoming her 4 daughters-in-law to their family, then rejoiced in the additions of her 6 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. She and Kenneth were married for 44 years and they enjoyed their retirement years gardening, taking bus trips around the US, and rooting for the Chicago Cubs together. Many family gatherings and holidays were spent together, debating sports or music, scuffing the basement ceiling with floor hockey games, opening gifts in dreaded "white boxes", and playing games in the yard or cards at the family table. Her grandkids remember eating her famous "Meatza Pie", throwing her goose down the stairs, catching lightning bugs in her handmade "house" for their nightlight, egg hunts and picnics.

When her beloved "Kenny" passed away in 1994, she was determined to stay active and kept busy taking daily walks to the post office, learning how to drive, serving meals to the homeless, attending women's groups, enjoying the breeze on her beloved front porch, and creating the floral centerpieces at her nearby church. Not a single family member had need for a store-bought potholder or hand towel, nor a banana or zucchini bread, for many decades. Cards arrived promptly and handwritten in beautiful cursive without fail on every birthday, holiday, or occasion, describing the flowers and birds, or which trees had lost leaves, and how many years and months she'd been living in her precious house.

She is forever remembered by her sisters Dorothy Riechers and Lucille Wells Widup; sons and daughters-in-law Gordon (Mary Brzezinski) Mundt, Gregg (Ann LaBotz) Mundt, Gene (Marilyn Richards) Mundt, and Gerry (Regina Lemke) Mundt; her grandchildren Thomas (fiancee Michelle Favia) Mundt, Leah (Daniel) Rathwell, Karl Mundt, John (Sandi Braun) Mundt, Katie Mundt, and Tim Mundt; and her great-grandchildren Marilyn, Henry, Evie, and Daniel, as well as the many friends and neighbors whose days she brightened along her way.

Ruth rarely complained, cherished the small joys of life, and made kindness an art form. Everything she made or did was in service to others, and everything she touched was better for it. She had a flair for making the simplest things more beautiful, turning wooden spools and bags of beans into toys, an empty oatmeal can or a pancake into a snowman, thread into art, and dough into the world's greatest ginger snap cookie of all time. Her family was her greatest recipe and she leaves behind a legacy of love.

Per Ruth's wishes, cremation will take place and a Memorial Visitation will be held at Forsythe Gould Funeral Home on Friday, June 19, 2026 from 10:30 A.M. until the time of Service at 12:00 P.M. Family and friends are encouraged to share in a meal together at the funeral home, provided by her children, immediately following her services until 2:00 P.M. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ruth's name to Manhattan-Elwood Public Library, PO Box 53, Manhattan, IL 60442, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 140 Thelma Street, Manhattan, IL 60442, or to Manhattan Township Historical Society, P.O. Box 269, Manhattan, IL 60442 would be most appreciated. Arrangements entrusted to Forsythe Gould Funeral Home, 507 S. State St., Manhattan, IL 60442, 815-478-3321, www.forsythegouldfh.com.