John 'Alvin' Rueter was born on 12 Mar 1878 in Syracuse, Otoe County, Nebraska. He lived in Russell, Otoe County, Nebraska in Jan 1880. Between 1944 and 1952 he was a pastor, Salem Lutheran Church in Superior, Nuckolls County, Nebraska. He died in an automobile accident on 29 Jun 1952 in Hebron, Thayer County, Nebraska.

John Alvin (Alvin) Rueter and Fredericka (Rickia) Beyer were married on 20 Apr 1908 in Holloway, Swift County, Minnesota. Fredericka (Rickia) Beyer was born in 1885/86 in Minnesota. She died of tuberculosis on 19 Feb 1920 in Doniphan, Ripley County, Missouri. John Alvin (Alvin) Rueter and Fredericka (Rickia) Beyer had the following children:

I. Lorenz Francis Julius Rueter was born on 20 Mar 1909 in Earl Grey, Saskatchewan, Canada. He lived in Bruning, Thayer County, Nebraska on 1 Apr 1930. After 1930 he was an a judge hearing cases involving labor disputes for the State of Colorado. He died on 26 Sep 1990 in Denver, Denver County, Colorado.

II. Eva Ida Rueter Wilken was born on 31 Oct 1911 in Earl Grey, Saskatchewan, Canada.

John Alvin (Alvin) Rueter and Pauline Helen Greiner were married on 24 Nov 1920 in Doniphan, Ripley County, Missouri. They had the following children:

III. Rev. Alvin Charles (Al) Rueter was born on 3 Nov 1921 in Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail County, Minnesota.

IV. Hilda Lydia Rueter Henneke was born on 25 Oct 1923 in Parkers Prairie, Otter Tail County, Minnesota.

V. Ray Roderick Rueter was born on 7 Apr 1926 in Goodland, Sherman County, Kansas.

VI. Glenn John Rueter was born on 13 Feb 1933. He lived in 1987. He died on 18 Aug 1987.

Report of Accident
Rev. J.A. Rueter Is Auto Crash Victim
Car Collided With Another Driven By Lawrence Soldier Near Hebron Sunday Night

Funeral services were to be conducted in Grace Lutheran church in Hebron this morning for the Reverend J. Alvin Rueter, 74, of Wilbur, who was fatally injured in a two-car crash about 6:15 Sunday night at the junction of Highways 3 and 81 (city route) southwest of Hebron.

The Rueters were enroute to Wilbur where he had just taken a new assignment. He had preached his farewell sermon Sunday at the American Lutheran church 5 ½ miles south of Nelson and they had attended a picnic in their honor in the Superior park before starting for Wilbur.

The other car figuring in the collision was driven by Bernard Schumm, 22, Lawrence soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., who was returning to camp after a visit at his home. Schumm suffered a broken jaw, scalp lacerations and broken teeth. After being kept overnight in the Hebron hospital he was flown, still unconscious, to Offutt Field hospital in Omaha Monday morning.

Mrs. Rueter, 55, has been in the Hebron hospital with a broken right arm and a fractured leg bone, where her condition has been reported as "good."

The Rueters were driving east, Schumm south, at the time of the crash. Mrs. Rueter was thrown several feet from the car and was found with some difficulty by those first on the scene.

Both cars ended up, badly wrecked, though upright, in the ditch at the southeast corn of the intersection.

Besides his wife, The Reverend Mr. Rueter is survived by six children.

Burial was to be made in the church cemetery south of Nelson. [
The Nelson Gazette, Thursday, July 3, 1952]

Obituary
John Alvin Rueter, son of Pastor G.A. and Katherine von Boran Rueter [sic] (NOTE: Parents were Charles Roderick Adelbert and Frances Amalia Lorenz Rueter), was born Mar. 12, 1878, at Syracuse, Neb., and died June 29, 1952, in the Thayer County Memorial hospital in Hebron of injuries suffered in a highway accident.

Whe he was five the family moved to Fredensau, near Hebron, Nebr. He grew to young manhood in the vicinity and here he felt the call to enter the ministry.

He entered Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., but prior to the completion of his studies he consented to go to Canada as a student pastor. He returned to complete the required work at the Seminary, and on April 12, 1908, at the age of 30, he was ordained to the office of the Lutheran ministry.

He took to wife, Friedericka Beyer on April 20, 1908, and this union was blessed with two children. Mr. Rueter served his first parish in Earl Grey, Sask., Canada, for nearly six years before accepting a call to Orange Grove, Tex. Due to his wife's health, they moved to Doniphan, Mo., where shortly after their arrival she was taken from him during the influenza epidemic of 1919.

He returned to Texas, where he served as an interim pastor at Seguin. Here he married Pauline Greiner of Seguin and to this union four children were born.

During the remainder of his 44 years in the ministry, he served congregations at Parkers Prairie, Minn.; Goodland, Kan.; Englewood and Sterling, Colo.; Rosalie, Nebr.; Enid, Okla.; and Salem Lutheran church south of Nelson. Just a few days before his death he had accepted a call to serve Trinity Lutheran church near Wilber, and they moved there on June 25.

In all, he built seven churches, three of them in Canada, supervised the remodeling of another, besides all the additional work done on existing properties.

He is survived by his wife, his six children, Lorenz of Denver, Colo.; Mrs. Eva Wilken, Greeley, Colo.; Alvin, pastor of Peace Lutheran church, Inglewood, Calif.; Mrs. Hilda Henneke, Enid, Okla.; Ray, Alexandria, Minn.; and Glenn at home.

Funeral services were conducted in Grace Lutheran church at Hebron at 10 o'clock Thursday morning, July 3, with interment at the Salem Lutheran cemetery south of Nelson. Pastor O. Reeg and Pastor Herman Dammn (sic) of Daykin had charge of the funeral service and Pastor A.A. Krause of Byron officiated at the graveside service. [
The Nelson Gazette, Thursday, July 10, 1952; Page 2


 
Family links: 
 Parents:
  
Frances Amelia Lorenz (1836 - 1917)
 
 Spouses:
  
Fredericka Beyer (1885 - 1920)
  
Pauline Helen Greiner (1894 - 1972)*