Ruth Ann Grimm

Ruth Ann Grimm, age 77 of Yankton, SD and formerly of Crofton, Nebraska died on Monday, November 3, 2025 at Avera Sister James Care Center in Yankton, SD

Memorial Services will be on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Bloomfield, Nebraska with Rev. Terry Krueger officiating. Burial will be in the Bloomfield Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with a Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m. at the Wintz Funeral Home in Crofton. Visitation will begin one hour prior to services on Friday at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of the Wintz Funeral Home in Crofton.

Urn bearer will be Jonathan Grimm.

Ruth Ann was born on April 21, 1948 to Raymond T. and Lola (Stewart) Smith. She grew up in rural Crofton and Lindy, attended Herrick and Swede schools, and worked at the Lindy Feed Store for her parents. Ruth Ann was gifted with a beautiful soprano voice and was the first girl from Crofton to attend All-State Chorus in 1964. She graduated from Crofton High School in 1965 and the following year from Nettleton Business College in Sioux City, IA. On July 2, 1967, Ruth Ann married Leon K. Grimm at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Bloomfield with Rev. Clarence J. Hansen officiating. Leon and Ruth Ann farmed north of Lindy until December 1968 when they moved, between blizzards, to the Grimm home place north of Bloomfield. They raised cattle and hogs and did general crop farming. Ruth Ann kept books for Grimm Farms, was the organist and pianist at the United Church of Christ, Crofton, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Bloomfield, and worked seasonally at Gurney’s Seed & Nursery in Yankton for several years in the data entry department. She was actively involved with Bloomfield Music Boosters while Ginger and Jonathan were in high school and she and Leon attended nearly all of Jonathan’s cross country meets. In 2008, Leon and Ruth Ann retired and purchased and remodeled a home in Crofton. She enjoyed reading, sewing, working in her tank gardens, and keeping up with everybody on Facebook. Her pride and joy were her 5 grandchildren. She always looked forward to the grandkids’ after school visits. Avera Sister James Care Center became Ruth Ann‘s home in October 2019. She received compassionate care from the nurses and staff in Riverfront, Assisted Living, and “her girls” in Dakota, especially during the last week of her life.

Ruth Ann was a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Bloomfield and a 50-year member of Mount Vernon Chapter No. 84, Order of the Eastern Star.

Ruth Ann is survived by 2 children and their spouses, Ginger and Duane Schieffer and their children Quinn, Karley and Jack of Fordyce; Jonathan and Trudy Grimm and their children, Alexander and Jacob of Norfolk; 2 sisters-in-law, Diane Smith of Bloomfield, and Larina and Roger Carpenter of Seward; aunts, Verlyn Nohr of Crofton and Eileen Stewart of Yankton, and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by husband, Leon, on July 20, 2013, at age 71; her parents; granddaughters, Anna and Grace Schieffer, brother, Roger Smith; niece, Stacey Goeden; in-laws, Norma and Harlan Koertje and Wilbur and Lenarda Grimm; parents-in-law, Ernest and Clara Grimm; and her beloved cat, Sami.