Ruth Stone

Ruth Margaret Stone

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." — John 14:27

Ruth Margaret (Berhow) Stone, 85, of Vancouver, WA, passed away on March 31, 2025, after enduring the effects of lung cancer. She was born on April 29, 1939, in Faribault, MN.

Ruth grew up in Faribault, MN, and attended Faribault High School. Her family moved to Vancouver, WA in the summer of 1955. She then attended Hudson’s Bay High School and was the first Valedictorian at the new high school. Ruth attended Pacific Lutheran University graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Education, and she attended Portland State University graduating with a Master’s degree in Counseling.

Ruth took a special interest in piano at a very young age and became quite prolific in piano solos and choral accompaniment. As a young teen, after school she would play piano for children’s dance classes where she started to develop her ‘perfect pitch’, and her ability to transpose songs to any key. In high school she was a singer and accompanist for the Hudson’s Bay High School Melodears and later was a proud tenor and choral accompanist for the Choir of The West while attending Pacific Lutheran. Out of college she taught music at Hunt Junior High School in Tacoma, WA for one year before being hired as the first choir director (and first female choir director for the Vancouver School District) at the new Columbia River High School in Vancouver, WA in 1962. Ruth played the organ for Trinity Lutheran Church in Vancouver, WA during her high school years, and then became the choir director there in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Vocationally, after having children in the mid-1960s she started substitute teaching before earning her counseling degree in 1979. She took her first full-time counseling position at Covington Junior High School in 1980 where her children attended. After a number of years there she became a high school counselor at Evergreen High School in Vancouver, WA before retiring in 1994.

During her retirement years, her music experience expanded tremendously. In the 1990s she was a winter-time accompanist for a church in Guaymas, Mexico, before becoming the accompanist for the Rancho Casa Blanca Choir in Indio, CA in 2000. Not only was she the accompanist for the chapel choir but she also played piano for many other musical productions such as Men’s Chorus, Big Star, Nifty 50s, Cabaret programs and many, many other musical performances. These times are where she found the most joy from her musical experience. She was blessed to play the piano one more time at her final visit to Rancho Casa Blanca on March 2nd.

Ruth married Gerald “Jerry” Norman Stone on August 25, 1962, and lived in Vancouver, WA until Jerry’s untimely death in early 1992. Ruth met John Theordore Scheer in late 1992. They married in 1994 and became “snowbirds” throughout their retirement years, migrating between Vancouver and Indio each year. John passed away in 2021 and Ruth has remained primarily at home in Vancouver since then.

Ruth was a devoted mother to Eric William (Karlyn) Stone, Katherine Elizabeth Green, and Karen Martha Richardson. Ruth was extremely proud of her six grandchildren Parker Stone, Sarah Stone, Claire Green, Marilyn Green, Seth Richardson and Levi Richardson.

Ruth enjoyed camping and boating, gardening, bible study, putt-putt golf, traveling, and reading, but above all she enjoyed her music, whether it was playing for others or listening to her favorite artists on albums, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs or digitally.

She is preceded in death by her parents; Byron Leroy Berhow and Martha Emma Sophia (Homeyer) Berhow. Ruth is survived by her brother Tom Berhow (Gael) and her sister Jane Lafady (Larry), sister-in-law Carolyn Burchfield, and numerous other family members.

Ruth found a wonderful home church at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Vancouver, WA. Please join us here for her Celebration of Life service and reception on Saturday, April 12, starting at 1:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Red Cross or your favorite local charitable organization (FISH, homeless shelters, etc.).

“Thy will be done.”