Ruth Lindman

Ruth Virginia Emch Lindman, age 99, died Friday evening, October 23, 2009, at Crandall Medical Center in Sebring, Ohio.
She was born August 14, 1910, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania to George Abraham and Gertrude Edith (Moyer) Emch. The family lived first in Boardman, then after her mother's death in 1914 and her father's remarriage to Jane "Jenny" Henry, lived in Poland, Ohio.
Virginia graduated from Poland Seminary High School in 1928, where she was captain of the girls' basketball team and participated in track and field sports. After graduation from The College of Wooster in 1933, she taught business education and coached the girls' basketball teams at Petersburg High School and then at Poland High School, prior to her marriage to Ivar Sven Lindman, June 7, 1938. They resided in Boardman, Ohio, where she taught business education at Boardman High from 1955 until retiring in 1970. She was president of Emch Spring Service, Inc. of Youngstown, the business her father began in 1916, following the death of her brother, William J. (Marjorie) Emch, from 1964 until 2004.
Virginia and her husband traveled in the U.S. and Europe after his retirement from the Poland school system until his death on June 16, 1981. She traveled extensively in Near Eastern and Asian countries until 1999 and gave travel talks to many groups in Youngstown area until she moved to Copeland Oaks in Sebring, Ohio, in January of 2001.
She was among the original class of inductees to the Poland High School Athletes Hall of Fame. She was a member of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society and the Mahoning Valley Retired Teachers Association. She had been a faithful member of Bethel Lutheran Church of Boardman, Ohio, where she taught church school and participated in the women's groups. Even from childhood, she embraced life and enjoyed all of her family and the many friends who became part of her family.
Survivors include her brother, George K. Emch of Hurley, New York; daughter, Susanne E. (Richard) Campbell of Alliance; son, the Rev. (Lt. Col. Ret.) Donald I. (Kathleen) Lindman, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania; granddaughters: Laurie J. Wood, of Chatham, N.J.; Christen J. (Keith) Hall of Chagrin Falls; Marjorie L. (Christopher) Cojocar of Uniontown; Anne E. (Mark) Zerbe of York, Pa.; and Julie R. Lindman of Ephrata, Pa; thirteen great-grandchildren: Campbell, Andrew, Jared and Ashley Wood; Elisabeth, Benjamin, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Olivia Hall; Emily and Craig Cojocar; and Victoria and Matthew Zerbe.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her sister, Edith C. Emch; her sister-in-law; and sisters and brothers-in-law Georgia and Scott Leonard, Jeannette and Fred Hanley, and Thelma and Raymond Lucas.
Services will be held 11 a.m.
Saturday, October 31, 2009, at Bethel Lutheran Church, 425 Crestview Dr., Boardman, Ohio, with Pastor Bret Rizzo officiating. An hour of visitation will be held prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, October 30, 2009, at Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral Home, 75 S. Union Avenue, Alliance, Ohio. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Boardman, Ohio.
Memorial contributions in her name can be made to The Oaks Foundation of Copeland Oaks, 800 S. 15th Street, Sebring, Ohio 44672; Bethel Lutheran Church, 425 Crestview Drive, Boardman, Ohio 44512; College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, Ohio 44691.
Arrangements are by Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral Home.