Ruth Irene Kluck Lauer, age 89, passed away on January 15, 2024. Ruth was born in 1934 in Columbus, Nebraska to Fred & Clara Kluck. She graduated from Columbus High School,  received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Nebraska (Go Big Red!), and a Master of Music Education from Wichita State University. She met the love of her life, Richard Lauer, on a blind date during college. They were married in 1956 and celebrated over 50 years of marriage before Richard passed away. Ruth started her career as a high school and elementary school music teacher. The Lauer family moved to Lubbock in 1969, where Ruth became the bookkeeper for Dick Lauer Insurance Agency and an active volunteer in many organizations. Most of her volunteering was for organizations dedicated to helping the lives of women and the poor, and included the League of Women Voters, Planned Parenthood, Women's Studies Community Connection, Women's Interface Network, Assist Human Needs, Project Help, Friends of the Library, and the South Plains Food Bank. Ruth was a lifelong reader and co-founded a book club in Lubbock that is still going strong today after more than 45 years. After her husband, Richard, passed away in 2012, she moved to Grapevine, Texas to spend more time with her family. Everyone who knew Ruth, knew she was a force to be reckoned with, but she charmed people with her humor, chocolate chip cookies, and popcorn. Ruth was a loyal and supportive friend to many, but you knew you were in a special category of friendship if she named a cat after you.

Ruth is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and one brother, Sonny Kluck. Surviving loved ones include Tom Lauer (Santa Fe, NM), Chris Lauer, his wife Vickie, and their son Zach (Corinth, TX), Julie Anderson, her husband Chris, and their two sons Wes & Sam (Colleyville, TX), and two brothers, Brian Kluck and his wife, Josette and Greg Kluck and his wife, Terri.

The family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
Attn: Online Services
P.O. Box 97166
Washington, DC 20090-7166

A celebration of life will take place in Columbus, Nebraska at a later date.