March 1, 1912 - April 8, 2006
WILLMAR -- Ruby E. Bjerke, 94, of Willmar died Saturday at Infinia Health Care Center in Willmar.
The service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery.
Visitation will be for one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar.
She was born March 1, 1912, in South Bend, Ind., to Claude and Ethel (Seybold) Azelton. She grew up in North Dakota and South Bend, Ind. The family moved to Willmar in 1928. She worked at the Willmar Hotel and the hotel restaurant. She moved to Minneapolis and graduated from Paul's Hairdressing Academy in 1933. She returned to Willmar and worked at the Agnes Collier Beauty Shop and then for the Peacock Beauty Shops in Atwater, Granite Falls, and Willmar. She bought the Agnes Collier Beauty Shop and renamed it the Modern Beauty Shop.
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She married Albert Bjerke on Aug. 7, 1938. They lived in Willmar and she worked part time for various shops. They moved to Minneapolis in 1947 and ran their own beauty and barber shop and returned to Willmar in 1949. She worked at the beauty shop at the Willmar State Hospital from 1952 to 1977. Albert died in 1972.
She was a member of Vinje Lutheran Church.
She is survived by her children: Allen (and Margie) Bjerke of Minnetonka, Robert Bjerke of Willmar, Bonnie (and Wesley) Martinson of Willmar; seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband; two grandsons; and one brother.
