Obituary for Sara Ruth Slaughter (Ohlhausen)
Sara Ruth (Sally) Ohlhausen Slaughter, died February 17, 2023, in O’Fallon, IL, after a fall in her assisted-living facility apartment. She devoted her life to her God and her four children: Rudie III, Sabrina, Meril and Aaron and their families.
Born in Weston, March 9, 1930, to Martin Monroe Ohlhausen, co-owner of the Weston Milling Company, and Ruth Marie Schaback Ohlhausen, and raised by them in keeping with their faiths (Church of Christ and Methodist Church) and their Masonic and Eastern Star principles, she was no mere “miller’s daughter.” After graduating as valedictorian from Weston High School (1948), she earned an Associate of the Arts degree from Christian College (1950). She then transferred to the University of Missouri for a Bachelor’s Degree in home economics (1952) where she made life-long friends with her “sisters” in the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. After graduation, she worked as a tea room manager at Macy’s Department Store in Kansas City before marrying Rudie Wright Slaughter jr., Oct. 10, 1953, in Weston. With him, she uprooted and moved her growing family seven times in 13 years before settling down after an eighth move in her large, mid-century modern home in Columbia, MO, which became an empty nest as her children graduated high school and college and moved away. Before they “fledged,” she transferred her home economist skills to them through patient practice and correction.
Sara Ruth, named for her mother and grandmother Sarah Rebecca Rinehart Ohlhausen and great-great-grandmother Sarah Smither Layton was an avid family historian, long before ancestry.com became popular. Proud of her mixed Swiss-German heritage tracing back to the 1400s and Anglo-American Colonial roots that include seven Revolutionary War patriots, she toured ancestral hometowns of Laytonsville and Walkersville in Maryland, visiting distant cousins.
Survivors include her brother William Rinehart Ohlhausen of Platte Woods, brother-in-law Robert Wyckoff Smith of Weston, children Rudie Wright Slaughter III and wife Nila of Fredericksburg, TX, Sabrina Marie Sellmeyer and husband Jeffrey of McAlester, OK, Meril Monroe Slaughter and his wife Susan Dewey of Union, IL, and Aaron Tory Slaughter and his wife Andrea of O’Fallon, IL, nine grandchildren: Aimee Chantel Esther Slaughter, Tyler Allen Sellmeyer and his wife Rachael, Brandon Alexander Slaughter, Andrea Marie Sellmeyer Lynch and her husband Benjamin, Akiko Rae Slaughter Spencer and her husband David, Ryan Nicholas Slaughter, Capt. Jacob Christopher Slaughter, 2nd Lt. Michael David Slaughter, and Katherine Victoria Slaughter Derby and her husband Riley, five great-grandchildren: Jackson and Ella Sellmeyer, Anna and David Lynch, and Olive Spencer and numerous nieces and nephews spanning three generations. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Mary Jean Ohlhausen Smith and sister-in-law Willa Jean West Ohlhausen.
There will be a visitation starting at 1 pm at the Vaughn Funeral Home, 18905 State Route 45 North, Weston, followed by a memorial service at 2 pm, Rev. Kara Wilson officiating. Interment will follow in the Laurel Hill Cemetery, Weston.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Weston Historical Museum, westonhistoricalmuseum.org, 601 Main ST, Weston, MO, 64098, in recognition of Sara Ruth’s lifelong interest in her Weston and Platte County heritage.
Born in Weston, March 9, 1930, to Martin Monroe Ohlhausen, co-owner of the Weston Milling Company, and Ruth Marie Schaback Ohlhausen, and raised by them in keeping with their faiths (Church of Christ and Methodist Church) and their Masonic and Eastern Star principles, she was no mere “miller’s daughter.” After graduating as valedictorian from Weston High School (1948), she earned an Associate of the Arts degree from Christian College (1950). She then transferred to the University of Missouri for a Bachelor’s Degree in home economics (1952) where she made life-long friends with her “sisters” in the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. After graduation, she worked as a tea room manager at Macy’s Department Store in Kansas City before marrying Rudie Wright Slaughter jr., Oct. 10, 1953, in Weston. With him, she uprooted and moved her growing family seven times in 13 years before settling down after an eighth move in her large, mid-century modern home in Columbia, MO, which became an empty nest as her children graduated high school and college and moved away. Before they “fledged,” she transferred her home economist skills to them through patient practice and correction.
Sara Ruth, named for her mother and grandmother Sarah Rebecca Rinehart Ohlhausen and great-great-grandmother Sarah Smither Layton was an avid family historian, long before ancestry.com became popular. Proud of her mixed Swiss-German heritage tracing back to the 1400s and Anglo-American Colonial roots that include seven Revolutionary War patriots, she toured ancestral hometowns of Laytonsville and Walkersville in Maryland, visiting distant cousins.
Survivors include her brother William Rinehart Ohlhausen of Platte Woods, brother-in-law Robert Wyckoff Smith of Weston, children Rudie Wright Slaughter III and wife Nila of Fredericksburg, TX, Sabrina Marie Sellmeyer and husband Jeffrey of McAlester, OK, Meril Monroe Slaughter and his wife Susan Dewey of Union, IL, and Aaron Tory Slaughter and his wife Andrea of O’Fallon, IL, nine grandchildren: Aimee Chantel Esther Slaughter, Tyler Allen Sellmeyer and his wife Rachael, Brandon Alexander Slaughter, Andrea Marie Sellmeyer Lynch and her husband Benjamin, Akiko Rae Slaughter Spencer and her husband David, Ryan Nicholas Slaughter, Capt. Jacob Christopher Slaughter, 2nd Lt. Michael David Slaughter, and Katherine Victoria Slaughter Derby and her husband Riley, five great-grandchildren: Jackson and Ella Sellmeyer, Anna and David Lynch, and Olive Spencer and numerous nieces and nephews spanning three generations. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Mary Jean Ohlhausen Smith and sister-in-law Willa Jean West Ohlhausen.
There will be a visitation starting at 1 pm at the Vaughn Funeral Home, 18905 State Route 45 North, Weston, followed by a memorial service at 2 pm, Rev. Kara Wilson officiating. Interment will follow in the Laurel Hill Cemetery, Weston.
The family suggests memorial donations to the Weston Historical Museum, westonhistoricalmuseum.org, 601 Main ST, Weston, MO, 64098, in recognition of Sara Ruth’s lifelong interest in her Weston and Platte County heritage.