Ruth Lundquist Obituary

Lundquist
Ruth (Oestreich) Lundquist
April 30, 1930
August 7, 2025

Ruth was born in Fritzlar, Germany in 1930, the youngest of three daughters born to Carl and Else Oestreich. At a young age, her father, a German military officer, was transferred to Fulda where she was raised. From age 9-15, her life was immeshed in the fiery ravages of war and the cacophony of air sirens, air raids and falling bombs. "We spent more time in bunkers than in school" she often recalled. Weeks before the end of World War 2, her father was killed behind enemy lines on the Russian border, leaving her Mother to raise three teen girls all alone.
After the war, Ruth worked as a dental hygienist and spent her free time as a tennis club champion and an ace skier. In the late 1950's, she met the love of her life, Donald C. Lundquist who was a Major in the United States Army stationed in Fulda. They married in 1960 and spent the next 9 years living between the United States (Fort Knox, Kentucky; Killeen, Texas; Norfolk, Virginia) and Germany (Wuerzburg, Fulda and Kitzingen). Don spent a year in Vietnam (1967-68) and was promoted to Lt. Colonel. Tragically, several months after returning from the war, he suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 38 while serving as battalion commander in Grafenwoehr. Ruth and her only child, Jacqueline, returned to United States heartbroken but resilient and settled in Northern Virginia.
Ruth was a private tennis instructor and worked selling furs at the flagship DC store, Garfinckel's, where her clients ranged from professional athletes to members of Congress to journalists. "You can always tell a good customer by their shoes," she would say!
Ruth traveled the world extensively and with great enthusiasm and even lived in India with her daughter, Jacqueline and her son-in-law, Richard Celeste for the four years he served as US Ambassador to India. Ruth's friends ranged from Presidents to Rock Stars to Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities to EVERY SINGLE ONE of her daughter's friends.
Ruth passed away peacefully on August 7, 2025 just a few months after celebrating her 95th birthday in grand style with friends and family.
Ruth will be remembered for enduring beauty, style and grace; her strong resilience AND OPINIONS; and her fierce love for her friends and family. Her devotion to her husband, Don, to her daughter, Jacqueline Lundquist and to her only grandchild, Sam Celeste, are the stuff of movies. Literally.
Her life's story has recently been documented in the award winning film, Letters from the Battlefield produced by Jacqueline, and based on the letters and tapes she and her husband, Don, shared with each other while he served in Vietnam.
Just days before her death, The Beach Boys lead singer, Mike Love, a longtime family friend, dedicated the song "God Only Knows" to Ruth at a concert at Red Rocks.

"God only knows what I'd be without you."

A memorial for Ruth will be held at 3pm on Saturday, November 29th at the First United Methodist Church located at 420 North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs.
Ruth will be buried at Arlington Cemetery with her husband, Don, at a date to be scheduled.