Ruth Edevold, 60
Bagley - Ruth Edevold, 60, died Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji.
Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 23 at Faith Lutheran Church in Bagley with Rev. Mardy Schermerhorn officiating. Interment was in the Bagley City Cemetery. The Cease Funeral Home of Bagley was in charge of the arrangements.
Ruth Maurine Tangjerd was born on September 15, 1939 in Bagley, the daughter of Maurice and Zella (Heathman) Tangjerd. She was raised and educated in Bagley, graduating as valedictorian of her class at Bagley High School in 1957.
On December 21, 1958, she married Marvin Edevold in Bagley. Ruth graduated from Bemidji State University, and the couple lived in Bemidji for 15 years before moving back to the family farm in 1972.
Ruth worked for Beltrami county for 11 years, residing from county emergency services director and part-time executive secretary to the county board to county coordinator and director of its Community Health Services agency, a post she held from 1981 to 1986.
In 1986, she became the first and only executive director of the Northwest Minnesota Initiative Fund, now called the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. It was formed from a grant from the McKnight Foundation with a goal of helping public and non-profit organizations in a 12-county region to strengthen and diversify the economy and focus on human service and tourism needs and to enhance human resources. Ruth helped build the foundation from a rural experiment in leadership and development into a major regional force with $22 million in assets.
She was also instrumental in forming the NMF's Northwest Women's Fund in 1997, supporting issues and programs benefiting women and girls in the region. In 1998, Ruth was honored with the Land of Lakes Girl Scout Council's Woman of Excellence award.
Survivors include her husband, Marvin of Bagley; two sons, Mark (Tamara) Edevold and David (Pamela) Edevold, both of Bagley; one daughter, Jeanne (Bill) Larson of Bemidji; five grandchildren; her mother, Zella Tangjerd of Bagley; five sisters; and one brother.
She was preceded in death by her father. A00003B1999OT27