RUTH Elin (Hall) OST
![Ruth Elin Ost](https://www.alaskawomenshalloffame.org/wp-content/uploads/2011-Helen.jpg)
• Business
• Education
• Music
Inducted: 2011
Deceased: 1953
RUTH Elin (Hall) OST
An American-born daughter of Swedish immigrants, Ruth Elin Hall Ost grew up in the Midwest. She married the Reverend Ludvig Evald Ost in 1910 in Wisconsin and the newlyweds moved to Nome immediately to work as missionaries for the Swedish Covenant Church.
During her years in Northwest, Ruth assisted her husband in running and managing the missions and children’s homes as well as owning and operating several businesses, including a reindeer herd and gold mine. She was a gifted musician and taught music, instruments and voice to many children in the area. She served as correspondent and bookkeeper and conducted a correspondence school for the Sunday school and Bible school teachers in the Alaska district for the Church. She also provided midwifery services and lost only one baby.
Ruth helped establish sound educational facilities and good health-care practices in regions of Alaska that had none. Her efforts to get territorial schools opened in rural Alaska communities have had lasting benefit for generations of Alaskans.
Tay Thomas wrote in Cry in the Wilderness: “Mrs. Ost was a remarkable woman who was credited with much of the success of the Covenant Church Mission in Northwest Alaska.” From an early age, she had crippling arthritis. Upon her death, the executive secretary of the Covenant World Missions wrote, “Her wheelchair was an altar where those who came found salvation, restoration, healing and comfort.”