May 03, 2021

Ruth Alice (Reese) McNish

Posted May 03, 2021 5:53 PM

Ruth Alice (Reese) McNish, 94, of Hiawatha and Clay Center, Kansas, died December 3, 2020 at the Clay County Medical Center after a brief illness. Ruth was born on a farm in rural Hiawatha, Kansas July 28, 1926, to John Wesley and Marjorie (Picton) Reese. 

Ruth graduated from Hiawatha High School in 1944, then Missouri Methodist Hospital, St. Joseph, Missouri in 1947 as an R.N., with honors.  Ruth married Justin Wayne McNish, a WW II Air Force veteran, KSU graduate and NRCS soil conservationist in 1948, a union lasting over 50 years and blessed with two sons, Thomas (spouse Mary) McNish, and John (spouse Laura) McNish.  Ruth served as an R.N. at Horton Hospital, Clay Center Medical Center and private doctors’ offices.  Ruth served as an elder for the Presbyterian Church and on the Board for Presbyterian Manor.  Ruth is survived by her two sons and two grandsons, Joe and Tommy McNish.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and brother John Wesley Reese, Jr., of Hiawatha, Kansas. 

Minister:  Scott Lingle, Clay Center Presbyterian Church

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May, 8, 2021 at the First Presbyterian Church in Clay Center. Inurnment will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 8 at the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Hiawatha, Kansas.

A Clay Center church service and Hiawatha graveside service will be postponed until May-June 2021; further notice will be provided.

Memorials:  First Presbyterian Church of Clay Center, Kansas, c/o Neill-Schwensen-Rook Funeral Home.