Ruby Lilian Van Keuren

Ruby Lillian Van Keuren, lovingly known to family as queenie, blessed family and friends across two continents, for a wonderful 94 years. Ruby passed away peacefully at her home in Lakeshore Manor Oshkosh, with family by her side. The third child of Arthur William Bridges and Elizabeth (Howard) Bridges, she was born in Ipswich England on August 11th 1924. As a precocious child she excelled at school from the onset but due to financial limitations was required to begin working full time at the age of 14. She tried her hand at several jobs, but amid the turmoil of WW2 she decided to assist the British cause in a more direct manner, and enlisted with the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She served as a radio surveillance operator at a camp in Aberdeen Scotland. At the conclusion of the war, while stationed back home in Ipswich, she met an American military police officer, and they began dating. She married this American GI, and would be married to James Orren Van Keuren on November 24, 1945, and soon thereafter move across the pond to James’s home of Wisconsin. The newly married couple spent several years in River Falls before settling down in Park Falls to raise a family. She was blessed with three lovely, albeit widely different children, which would be the final ingredients to her homemaker focus. Besides being a loving wife and mother, she worked as a nurse’s assistant, helped operate a Montgomery Ward that they eventually owned, enjoyed knitting, playing cards and dice, watching the Packers, keeping up with the news, having a good cup of tea, and traveling. Aside from returning back to England to visit, she made many trips to visit her son David in Washington D.C. and enjoyed going to warm places with sandy beaches.
Ruby is survived by two of her children, Michael (Char) Van Keuren, Marina (Roger) Nelessen; grandchildren, Erin (Phil) O’Rourke, Ryan Van Keuren; great grandchildren, Madeline, Benjamin, Amelia; and many friends throughout the places she has lived and visited. She is preceded in death by her parents, Arthur and Elizabeth Bridges; three siblings, Irene, Arthur, Robert; son, David Van Keuren; and husband, James Van Keuren.
A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday Dec. 20 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(2450 W. 9th Ave. Oshkosh, Wi) with Rev. Greg Koepsell officiating. Visitation will be held at the church on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service. Inurnment will take place at Graceland Cemetery in Clintonville at a later date.
A memorial is being established to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Her positive influence and loving laugh will be remembered forever after.