Ruth Mrytle (Cottrell) Lunz
Ruth, born 16 Apr 1895, was the second child of Carl C. and Myrtle I. Cottrell. Ruth married Freeman Lunz of Clintonville, WI in 1920. Ruth and Freeman had seven daughters and also raised another girl from a broken home.
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Ruth went to Bethel Academy in Arpin, WI when it was a only a junior academy (9th & 10th grade only). She wanted to be a nurse and at that time Bethel offered courses in pre-nursing. She finished the 10th grade and went to work in a health facility in Missouri where she gave fomentation treatments (hot packs). Ruth did not pursue a nursing career after that.
In 1920 Ruth married a family friend, Freeman Lunz, and went to live with him on his family farm near Clintonville, WI. In addition to regular farming they had several acres of large maple trees. Each winter they would harvest many gallons of the clear white sap from the maple trees and boil it down in a large metal container over an open fire to make maple syrup.
After the last of their seven daughters had grown up and moved away the farm was too much for them to manage alone so they sold the farm and moved to a smaller farm north of Clintonville. There it was discovered that Freeman had cancer and they moved to St. Joseph, MI to be near a daughter. They later moved to Battle Creek, MI to live with another daughter where Freeman died in 1952. Ruth later moved to Berrien Springs, MI to live with another daughter. She died there at 102 years old in 1998.
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 Ruth & Freeman Lunz Wedding Picture
 Daughters Bernita, Ardyce, & Bernice
Collecting Maple Syrup
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Following are extracts from an article that appeared in the Lake Union Herald in 1982
NEW MUSIC AT 87
Special music at Michigan's Upper Peninsula Camp Meeting included a harmonica medley presented by Ruth Lunz. She was a long way from her home in Berrien Springs.
Mrs. Lunz is a fourth-generation Adventist and a member of Pioneer Memorial Church.
She remembers her great grandmother telling how she saw the stars fall in 1833. Great grandmother Cady was a Sabbath keeper and an Advent believer at the time of the great disappointment in 1844.
The piano was a favorite instrument for Mrs. Lunz to play until recently when she became almost blind because of a hereditary eye problem.
When she could no longer see to read notes, she found an old harmonica among the family treasures and learned to play it by ear. That was one year ago, when she was 86. Now she often plays for programs in nursing homes or churches.
Undaunted by painful arthritis in her knees, Mrs. Lunz has walked across the Mackinac Bridge the past two years on Labor Day
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  Ruth at 102
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