Patricia L. “Pat” Ruegger, age 84, of Mount Horeb/Ojibwa/Dodgeville/Cornell, grabbed her knitting bag and ran through Heaven’s gates on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. No one will be wandering around Heaven without a warm hat, mittens, or socks this fall and winter!

Pat was born on June 7, 1939, the eighth of 10 children, to Jack and Mildred Ellis of Cornell, Wis. She learned to knit sitting on her grandfather’s lap when she was 4 years old and spent her life making fabulous things to keep her loved ones warm. If her knitting didn’t make you happy, she’d bake you something. At least twice a week! She managed the bakery at Dick’s Supermarket in Dodgeville for many years and perfected her cake decorating skills. Pat was also magical with plants and her husband often accused her of transforming their home into a jungle. He wasn’t too far off. In her later years, Pat started building dollhouses and meticulously created each of her children’s homes in miniature. Her love of antique dishes outgrew every cabinet in her home and sometimes found its way into bedroom closets. Pat was rarely far from a Diet Coke, on ice, and in emergencies, ice cream---real ice cream, not soft-serve---could get her through. That and a Vera Bradley bag. Or 10. With matching wallets.

Pat is survived by her devoted and endlessly patient husband, Marshall; children, Rebecca (Darryl) Mataya of Mount Horeb, Jody (Leisa) Jensen of Hayesville, N.C., Jim Jensen of Eau Claire, Sara Ruegger (Adam) Pollock of Mount Horeb, and Sammi (Jesse) Korinek of St. Paul, Minn.; as well as handfuls of grandchildren and---the real reason for living---great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Jack and Mildred Ellis; in-laws, Sam and Esther Ruegger; sisters, Jane, Helen and Dorothy; brothers, Harold, Bill, Richard and John; and several nieces, nephews, cousins and dear friends.

Pat’s family would like to thank the team at BeeHive Homes for their loving and devoted care of Pat for the last 16 months.

There will be a Celebration of Life and Ice Cream Social at DRIFTLESS HISTORIUM, 100 S. Second St.,

Mount Horeb, from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Mount Horeb

Funeral & Cremation Care

500 N. Eighth St.

(608) 437-5077

Patricia Lee Ruegger

June 07, 1939 - October 11, 2023

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