Ruth Hoeldtke Milhous

WATERVILLE – On Saturday, June 14, 2025, God called Ruth home to heaven. Ruth Hoeldtke Milhous was the daughter of Carl William and Mable Whitlock Hoeldtke, and was born December 3, 1937, in Cuba, N.Y. Her father was a pastor in Buffalo, N.Y., until he became an army chaplain during World War II. Following the war, Pastor Hoeldtke took a church in Albany, N.Y., that he led for many years.

Ruth first met her husband Raymond Milhous in eighth grade when his family moved to Albany. An abiding friendship began between the two families, although Ray’s family moved again a couple years later. After graduating from Albany High School, Ruth began a five-year program affiliated with Wheaton College in Illinois to combine a nursing degree and a college education. First, she obtained her RN degree and was able to pay her remaining college fees working as a nurse while also attending classes. She finished in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science.

Reunited years later in Philadelphia, Ray and Ruth were married on June 23, 1962, and the two went to spend two years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo practicing medicine in a Mennonite Hospital, where their first child was born. Following their return to the United States, Ray completed a medical residency in Pennsylvania after which they moved to South Burlington, Vt. The two were blessed with three additional children and enjoyed 62 years of marriage. Ruth worked again as a nurse at the Medical Center of UVM after the children were all grown. Over the 50 years of their life in Vermont, their home was a place of hospitality, welcoming people for meals, Bible study, prayer, and housing for short and long stays. She was always involved in church life, community outreach, and worshipped in a number of different Christian traditions

through her life. She enjoyed playing violin with her husband, bread-baking, gardening, and poetry. The couple moved to Maine in 2019 in order to be near their elder daughter.

She was pre-deceased by her husband Raymond, and is survived by brothers John and David Hoeldtke, sisters Mary Bryant and Ann Easterling, daughters Sharon (Charles) Conover and Joy (Timothy) Yankey, sons Stephen (Kristi) and Peter (Juliet) Milhous, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Ruth’s family wishes to thank the many individuals—friends, aides, CNA’s, nurses, and other staff –who cared for her at her Waterville home, Granite Hill Estates, and Oak Grove Center over the past four years.

A funeral service for Ruth will take place Friday, July 11 at 1 p.m., at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 36 Cool Street in Waterville, Maine, followed by committal and burial. A reception and time of sharing memories will follow in the fellowship hall. All are welcome.

Services are under the care of Veilleux-Redington-Lawry Brothers, 8 Elm Street, Waterville. An online guestbook may be signed and memories shared at http://www.vrlfuneralhome.com.