July 8, 2025

Linn County News

Published July 16, 2025

Ruth Ann Antrim, formerly Hueston, passed away July 7, 2025, after bravely battling cancer for many years. Ruth Ann was 74 years old. She lived and worked in the Mound City and Fort Scott, Kan., areas her entire life. She was the daughter of Kenneth and Marie Hueston.  Born on May 21, 1951. She attended school in Mapleton, Fulton, and finally at Uniontown where she graduated from. 

Ruth Ann married Guy Antrim on Nov. 4, 1977, in Mapleton, Kan. This union led to two children, Brian and Michael.  Ruth Ann already had a son, Jerry from a previous relationship. She worked in many different places during her life. The Fort Scott Tribune, Western Insurance Companies, SEKAN printing and Ennis Business Forms from which she retired. She also worked part-time in nursing homes as well as the Fort Scott Livestock Auction. At one time, she was working three jobs. Whatever she had to do to take care of her family, she did. 

Ruth Ann loved animals and raised many dozens of orphaned rabbits. It was hoped no one was giving away a wayward buffalo, because she would have tried to rear it. The one thing that she loved and cherished more than anything were her boys. She sacrificed everything for them and to know she was only a phone call away, brought great comfort to them. Although her own boys came first, a very close second were the multiple neighborhood boys who were always a fixture at her house; usually to eat. It was not unusual to have six or eight boys plus her three to feed. Being able to produce enough homemade chicken and noodles to feed a platoon of teenage boys was an absolute miracle. Yet she did it every weekend, from yeast rolls to cream peas and potatoes, no one went away hungry. Indeed, many of her most famous dishes seemed to defy the laws of physics, as they cannot be duplicated to this day. Ruth Ann knew how to raise hard working, honest kids.  Indeed, some of the boys brought girlfriends and fiancés by, to get her approval. 

She loved her friends and cousins or really anybody that would stand still long enough to receive a hug. You weren't getting away without one. Ruth Ann had an absolute uncanny sense of time. If you left her house she knew, plus or minus ten minutes, about how long it should take you. If you didn't report in, you were getting a phone call. There are going to be a lot of us missing those first thing in the morning calls as well. You know who you are.  She cared for her parents as they struggled with health issues. Her husband, Guy had a long struggle with cancer and this really wore her down. The loss of her youngest son, Michael, was something that she never fully recovered from, even after twenty years. If a cousin or friend came by the house, she was quick to jump in the car and off they went. She loved flowers, gardening and sarcasm. The latter will be sorely missed. 

Ruth Ann Antrim is survived by a brother, Tom Hueston and his wife, Jeanie of Mapleton, Kan.; two sons, Jerry Anderson of McCune, Kan., and Brian Antrim and wife, Becky of Prescott, Kan.; four grandchildren, Dreyton, Connery, Kendall and Axle; and too many other boys to mention, but you know who you are.

Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, July 15, at the Schneider Funeral Home, Mound City Chapel. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to service time. Burial will follow in the Mapleton Cemetery.

Contributions are suggested to Care to Share of Linn County and may be sent in care of the Schneider Funeral Home P.O. Box J Mound City, Kan. 66056.