Don F. Ruhter

Visitation for Don Fredrick Ruhter, 73, will be held Saturday, March 30, 2019 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 200 North Plum Grove Road, Palatine, IL. from 9:00a.m. until the time of the Funeral Service, 11:00a.m. followed by a luncheon. The Funeral Service will also be streamed live from the church’s website.

Don passed away peacefully at his home in Barrington, IL, surrounded by his family, on Sunday, March 24, 2019.

Don was born on March 1, 1946 in Centralia, IL, to Vernon and Gertrude (Schultz) Ruhter and grew up in Addison, IL. He attended St. Paul Lutheran Elementary School in Addison, IL and Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park, IL. Don received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he also wrote for the school’s Daily Illini newspaper. After graduation, he reported for the Waukegan News-Sun and Chicago Tribune before beginning his 30-year career with Kemper Insurance Companies. There, Don worked in the advertising and public relations departments and helped run the Kemper Open and Women’s Kemper Open golf tournaments. After leaving Kemper, Don worked with Lutheran Bible Translators and Barrington Transportation Company.

He was happily married for 37 years to Carol Kesner. Together they had two children: David Sheldon Ruhter of Wauconda, IL and Emily Marie (Mark) Lynn of Lafayette, CO. Don was an active member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL, where he served as president of the congregation and president of the board of elders. Most recently, he was a member at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine, IL, where he had served on the board of elders and was current president of the school board.

Don was a lover of golf and reading, of history and his country, of writing and fishing, and of convertible rides in his Sebring. But most of all, he loved God, his family and his many friends.

In addition to his immediate family, Don is survived by his siblings, Ruth Ann (Frank) Stautzenberger of Mountain Home, AR; Jim (Nanette) Ruhter of Honolulu, HI; and Cheryl (Fernando) Garcia of Barrington, IL, as well as his aunt, Berdine (Bill) Priegnitz, Crystal Lake, IL, and his many beloved nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Palatine.