Edna Rutkaus

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Edna Elizabeth Rutkaus

EXETER — Edna Elizabeth Rutkaus (née Rubin) passed away peacefully in her sleep the morning of Friday, May 31, 2013, at RiverWoods in Exeter.

She led an active and happy life there for 10 years. She had visited with family just the evening before. Edna was born in Chicago, Ill., in 1916.

After attending Samuel Morse Elementary School and then high school in Chicago, she earned her bachelor's degree in social work at Central YMCA College. She married Anthony Rutkaus in 1938 and they later moved to Washington, D.C. Edna and Tony had two children, Michael and Laurel. The family soon moved to nearby Fairfax, Vir.

Edna, Tony, Michael and Laurel were Mother Earth News long before there was such a magazine, with five acres of orchard, gardens, rabbits, goats, dogs, cats, ducks, geese, chickens and even peacocks.

Her home was always full of stacks of reading materials, books in particular, magazines and newspapers, as well as flowers from the garden in its heyday, to African violets and amaryllis.

Edna plied her social work trade for years with the county social work department, then obtained her master's of library science from Catholic University, while working full time and traveling long distances for the degree. She then joined the Fairfax County Library Department, serving first as reference librarian at the HQ library, then chief librarian at several other county libraries, including the Reston Branch.

She loved to travel; during her working career and after retirement she and Tony visited Machu Picchu in Peru and other distant locales. She also traveled to Africa, and to France, England, Germany, Austria and Spain with Laurel and Michael.

She loved animals and raised collies for years, not to mention many exotic cats. She loved cultivating flowers, completing crossword puzzles, reading and doing crafts. Shortly before Edna died she took great joy in visiting with her favorite German shepherd.

Edna was born into the Lutheran faith and was active in the Lutheran Church in Fairfax. In Exeter, when she could, Edna attended the local Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, and gratefully received ministerial and holiday visits from the church.

Edna was a strong woman with a character all her own.

She is survived by her son Michael Rutkaus of Winchester, Vir.; her daughter Laurel and her son-in-law David Abusamra of Brentwood; her granddaughter Christina Rutkaus and her husband Marc Baseman of Arroyo Seco, N.M.; her granddaughter Ilse Abusamra of Brentwood and New York City; and two great-grandsons, Nicholas Rutkaus and Max Baseman.

She was preceded in death by her husband Tony, her brother Richard and other loved relatives in Chicago.

Burial was in Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Ill.

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Interment -

Burial was in the

Forest Home Cemetery

Forest Park, Illinois