Ruth Alma (Dautenhahn) Rikli

March 2, 1919 – December 25, 2004

Ruth Alma Rikli, 85, died Saturday, December 25, 2004, in Wichita, Kansas.

Born in Fairland, Oklahoma, on March 2, 1919, she was the daughter of Rev. Timotheus Arthur and Johanna Henrietta Gieschen Dautenhahn. In 1928 her father, Rev. Dautenhahn, and his family were in a car accident in Mattoon, Illinois, and the Reverend was killed. Ruth’s mother moved the family to Perry where Ruth graduated from Perry High school in 1938. She received nurses training at the Enid General hospital and attended Oklahoma A & M, Stillwater for one year.

On June 6, 1948, she and Raymond R. Rikli were married in Enid. Their first home was in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, where Raymond attended the Okmulgee A. & M tech school. The couple were blessed with 5 children.

The family eventually moved to Wichita, Kansas where Raymond worked at the Kansas Department of Transportation weights and measures and Ruth worked as a registered nurse for the county hospital. Raymond died in 1997.

Survivors include: one daughter, Sandra Sutton of Haysville, Kansas; sons, Richard of Worden, Illinois, Fred of Mesa, Arizona, Eugene and William, both of Wichita, Kansas; sister, Adeline Morris of Dallas, Texas; 7 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Grace Lutheran Church, Wichita, Kansas. The family suggests that memorials may be given in her memory to Grace Lutheran Church,