Ruth A. Alcorn

SPRINGFIELD - Ruth A. Alcorn, 95, passed on peacefully at Lewis Memorial Christian Village, her home for the past three years, at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, August 10, 2014.

Ruth was born Nov. 5, 1918, at home on the farm in Preston, Iowa, (POP 450) to Melvin H. Farley and Laura Bridgett Driscoll (O'Driscoll). She went to nursing school at St. Anne's Hospital Loyola University in Chicago along with three cousins. After graduation, they all enlisted in the U.S. Army in Chicago. The three cousins were sent to Europe. Ruth as assigned to the Army Air Corps Chanute AFB, Rantoul, Ill. One of her duties was caring for the men who were being trained as mechanics for the Tuskegee Airmen. She there met her future husband, Harry J. Alcorn, who was a pilot instructor and test pilot. After the war they were stationed at Wright Patterson AFB for several years. Harry died in 1984. He was retired from the Rock Island Arsenal as a mechanical engineer.

Ruth is survived by her only sibling, Merle J. Farley of Davenport, Iowa, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a waist gunner on a B17, completing fifty missions over Europe; sons, Richard Alcorn of Springfield, Ill., (U.S. Navy, 1963-1972), Robert Alcorn of Eatonton, Ga., (U.S. Army 1968-1970); and son-in-law, Robert Dooley of Plano, Texas. Her daughter, Jacqueline died in 1989.

There are nine grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, nephews and other family members in eastern Iowa where the Farley's and the O'Driscoll's made claims in the Iowa territory in 1837.

Services will be held at the Rock Island Armory National Cemetery with burial adjacent to her husband, "Jack".

The family is deeply grateful to everyone at Lewis Memorial Christian Village for the 'exceptional' environment provided by the entire staff at every level.

Memorials may be made to Lewis Memorial Christian Village Activities Fund, 3400 W. Washington St. Springfield, IL 62711.