Ruth Elizabeth Montgomery Thurman, our beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt passed away June 21, 2015 surrounded by her loving family.
Ruth was born April 16, 1919 in a small farm home in Eden, Utah to William Ora and Almeda Waters Montgomery.
Ruth grew up with a half-sister, one sister, and four brothers. The children did all the chores of the farm life; riding horses, working in the fields, herding cows, chopping wood, helping in the garden and anything else that her mother could think of for them to do.
She attended a small school house in Eden and attended the local LDS church. She was baptized in an irrigation canal that ran past her Bishop\s home.
After her father\s sudden death, her mother took the children and move to a home in Ogden. Ruth graduated from Weber High School, with honors, but caught the mumps from her younger siblings and was unable to attend the graduation program.
After working at various jobs, Ruth had saved enough money to attend Brigham Young University. She wanted to become a teacher. While there, she went with friends to Heber City for a weekend, where she met Elmo Murdock Thurman. They were married about two years later. The couple move to San Diego, California where the their first son, John was born. Eventually they move back to Utah where Elmo was both the architect and builder of their home that she lived in for the rest of her life. Ruth helped build their Salt Lake home by pounding nails, mixing cement, painting, etc., besides keeping the children out of the way. Ruth had been a widow since February 1972, when Elmo died suddenly from a heart attack.
Ruth worked 27 years a Deseret PharmaceuticalCo., retiring in 1985. She spent her retirement doing quite a bit of traveling. She traveled all over the world with her daughter Sheryl, they went to Europe, Hawaii, Canada, the Hill Cumorahpageant and the Rose Parade as well as other road trips to various states. They took cruises to Alaska, the Caribbean, along the Mexican coast and (her lifelong dream) they got to cruise through the Panama Canal for Ruth\s 80th birthday.
Ruth\s hobbies included reading, crafts, crocheting, gardening and regularly attending the temple with her friends. She spent a great deal of time doing genealogy and writing family histories. She was also an active member of the Central Park Camp of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.
Ruth was amazing woman and a role model to her family.
She was an expert gardener growing gorgeous African violets and orchids. She also spent a great deal of time in her yard making it one of the most beautiful spots in South Salt Lake. She crocheted beautiful afghans and many of them have won first place blue ribbons in the Utah State fair. She was also a loving caretaker at heart; she took care of her aging mother and also took in her half-sister and cared for her until her sister passed away.
She was preceded in death by her sweetheart Elmo Thurman and eldest daughter Linda Osborne. She is survived by her sons John (Lyn) and Jerry (Melinda); and her daughters Sheryl and Lori (Brian) Creighton. She was also survived by her brother Robert Montgomery.She was the loving grandmother of 13 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren.
She was a blessing to all who knew her and we will celebrate her life and legacyJune 24, 2015, 11:00 a.m.at the Heber City Cemetery.
