Ruth Augusta Werner

ST. IGNATIUS — Ruth Augusta Werner, 95, died Feb. 3 at Riverside Health Care Center, Missoula. Ruth was born in Minneapolis, the sixth of seven children, to Robert C. and Hannah (Wold) Norman, Norwegian immigrants. She came to Montana with her parents and five older siblings in 1910. The family settled in the Webster country, south of Baker. A younger, beloved sister, Irene, was born in 1911.

For the next 26 years, Ruth grew up in a farm family filled with love and hard, arduous work. In her later years, Ruth often reflected on her brother Jim's harnessing the horses for a sleigh ride in the dead of winter, her father witching water wells for themselves and neighbors, her mother and the girls cooking for the harvest crews, impromptu music sessions among talented family and neighbors, the Webster dances, and teamsters staying overnight in winter after tending to their shivering, steaming horses. Ruth could go on and on.

Ruth loved a good time, but she also knew when there was work to be done. As a mother, she set her children an example: Enjoy yourself, but don't forget the basics. Her motto might have been, "All work and no play make Jill a dull girl."

Ruth was always ready for a dance, but the children will have clean clothes, warm beds, and full bellies, first. Ruth delighted in children, especially babies.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 41 years, David, Sr.; her parents, and her siblings.

Survivors include her children, David, Jr., of Missoula, Lemoin (Larry) Weidman of Cascade, and Kenneth (Barbara) of Browning; five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Services were Feb. 8 at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Ignatius.

Burial was beside her husband in Pleasant View Cemetery.