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Obituary
Like the roller coasters
she loved so much, Mary Loretto Ruley Kluesner
experienced a life of fun twists and unexpected turns. Her earthly journey
came to an end on February 22, 2014, which happened to be her wedding
anniversary. Her 94 years spanned an extraordinary time period, from just
after World War I through the 2001 terrorist attacks and beyond. Loretto’s
own life was marked by its own seminal events: her father dying when she was
five years old, watching her mother work and struggle through the Great
Depression to keep the family together, losing her oldest daughter, Mary
McCammon, in 1997 as well as newborn infant, Barbara, in 1955. Born on May
13, 1919, in Louisville, Ky., Loretto was the oldest daughter and second of
Mary Eunice “Muzzy” Head and Joseph Preston Ruley’s five children. She
graduated from Loretto High School in 1936 and attended Clark Business
School, where she met her future husband, Winfred Bernard “Wink” Kluesner,
Sr. Ten months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, they were married. They
would have six children over the next 16 years. In 1962, the family moved to
West Virginia and Loretto left Louisville, the only home she had ever known.
After Wink died in 1985, Loretto remained in Huntington, WV at their parish,
Sacred Heart, and was active in St. Ann’s Circle. In 2001, she moved to
Lexington to be closer to most of her family. When it came to basketball,
Loretto loved University of Kentucky as much as she disliked Duke. She also
enjoyed playing Skee Ball at Camden Park, attending the St. Jerome’s Annual
Picnic, taking in the bingo games at the Cathedral of Christ the King
Oktoberfest, buying the occasional lottery scratch-off ticket, dinner out
and sweets of any kind. Whatever life handed her, Loretto always chose to
move forward with stubborn determination and unpredictable humor. In
addition to her husband and two children, Loretto was preceded in death by
her beloved brother, Joseph Louis “Louie” Ruley and her daughter-in-law of
45 years, Teresa “Teri” Roland Kluesner. She will be missed and remembered
by her children, son Winfred Bernard “Bernie” (Linda) Kluesner, Jr. of
Beckley, WV; son Charles “Chuck” (Maggie) Kluesner of Richmond, KY; daughter
and Loretto’s caregiver, Donna Wheeler, and daughter Beverly (Larry) Bell,
both of Lexington; sisters Bernice Hayes and Evelyn James; 13 grandchildren
and 25 great-grandchildren. A visitation is scheduled on Tuesday, February
25th from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home - Main Street in
Lexington. A brief visitation will also be held on Wednesday, February 26th
from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Church in Huntington, WV. The
Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. By Fr. Charles McGinnis.
The Rite of Committal will be at Spring Hill Cemetery. Reger Funeral Home in
charge of local arrangements
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