Alyce Elizabeth Ruttkay
August 3, 1916 - May 17, 2017
Obituary
Alyce Elizabeth (Hackman) Ruttkay
8/3/1916 to 5/17/2017
Alyce Elizabeth (Hackman) Ruttkay peacefully passed on to join the love of her life of 61 years, William G. (Bill) Ruttkay, on May 17, 2017. Born on August 3, 1916, in Irvington, Nebraska, Alyce celebrated her 100th birthday last year surrounded by three generations of family from all over the United States. Born to William Fredrick and Vivian Lee Hackman, in Irvington, Nebraska, Alyce grew up on the family farm in Shelton, Nebraska with her five brothers and sisters, Sylvia (Hackman) Baker, Mark Hackman, George Hackman, Henrietta (Hackman) Powell, and Joan (Hackman) McNabb. Alyce attended grade school in Shelton Nebraska, and graduated from Shelton High School in June of 1933. In September of 1933 she moved to Omaha, Nebraska and lived there until May of 1934, at which time, she moved back home to Shelton, Nebraska. In August of 1936 Alyce moved to Washington D. C. to help her sister, Sylvia, raise her first child, and to attend art school. She returned to Shelton, Nebraska in May of 1937 to attend Kearney State Teachers College. In 1938, Alyce moved to Valparaiso, Indiana, to help her brothers on their farms. She returned home to Shelton, Nebraska, in 1938, and entered the University of Nebraska in September of 1939 until May of 1940, and was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority.
In August of 1939, while visiting her sisters in the Madrona neighborhood of Seattle, Alyce agreed to go on a blind date with a friend of her sisters. Alyce and her blind date, Bill Ruttkay, were immediately attracted to each other and fell in love. They corresponded while Alyce went to the University of Nebraska, and then married in Seattle in September of 1940.
The newly weds first lived in an apartment on lower Queen Anne, in Seattle, followed by their first home purchase in the Roxbury neighborhood of West Seattle, where they began to raise their family. As their family grew, they moved into their next home in Seahurst, Washington, and then into a home Bill built in Gregory Heights, west of Burien, Washington, where they lived for 51 years.
A beloved mother, Alyce raised her children Tom Ruttkay, Judith (Ruttkay) Coglon, and Susan (Ruttkay) Butler, with the love of her life Bill. She instilled all that is good in each of their children through her gentle, patient, and fun loving spirit, which guides them today. Her great love of family and her ability to show them that beauty is always present and can be found in the lives of others, was her gift to all of them. She was a treasure!
Reading the latest good book was her joy. Sketching and capturing life around her with pen, pencil, watercolor or pastel was her muse. The time she spent with her immediate and greater family was only surpassed by her enjoyment of all that life offered with her husband, Bill.
When not busy raising their children, Alyce and Bill enjoyed outings in Seattle and traveling the West Coast and East Coast. They were members of St. Francis Catholic Church in Seahurst, Washington, where all three children attended St. Francis Catholic Grade School, Sylvester Junior High, and Highline High School. Tom attended Burien Grade School, and he and Judith attended Gregory Heights Elementary School.
Alyce moved to Bellevue, Washington, in 2001, after her husband passed away. There she lived independently until age 97, when she moved to Brookdale Assisted Living facility in Kirkland, Washington. She lived there, experiencing great care and loving support from the staff and her family for the remainder of her life.