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Ruth Kaarlela

September 22, 1919 ~ January 8, 2018 (age 98) 98 Years Old

Ruth Kaarlela Obituary

Ruth Kaarlela was born in Keweenaw Bay, Michigan to Robert and Mary Kaarlela on September 22, 1919. She passed peacefully on January 8th, 2018 in Novi, Michigan.

She received her bachelors and masters degrees in social work from Wayne State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in gerontology. She took courses at Syracuse University and Columbia University Teachers College resulting in a certification in special education to teach blind children.

After five years with the Family Service Agency and four years at the University of Michigan hospital she moved on to the Industrial Home for the Blind at the Mineola campus, where she developed plans for integration of blind children into public schools. For two years she was an itinerant teacher of blind children on Long Island. She later worked for a Nassau County day school.

In 1963 Ruth Kaarlela joined the faculty at Western Michigan University to initiate a Rehabilitation Teaching Program. For the next 23 years, she was involved in offering graduate courses, refining program content to include low vision, multi-handicapping conditions, gerontology and technology, and in the latter years she served as chairperson of the Department of Blind Rehabilitation.

She taught the first gerontology course at Western Michigan University, which later led to the establishment of a complete gerontology degree program. After her retirement from WMU in 1986, she worked for the American Foundation for the Blind educating Native Americans with respect to visual problems.

She was well traveled including a trip around the world and several trips to Finland. She was the last survivor in her immediate family having lost her parents and all eleven of her siblings. She is survived by several generations of nieces and nephews.

Services will be private. Interment Keweenaw Bay Cemetery.

Memorial tributes may be made to Finlandia University, 601 Quincy Street, Hancock, MI 49930 or the Finnish Center Association, 35200 W. Eight Mile Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48335.