Ruth Foster

Former Libby resident and retired nurse Ruth Elizabeth Foster, 93, died on March 14, 2005, at Sandpoint, Idaho.

Services were conducted on March 18 at Coffelt's Moon Chapel, with her son-in-law Dale Coffelt officiating.

Interment followed later that day in the City of Libby Cemetery.

Ruth was born on Dec. 6, 1911, at Dickinson, N.D., and moved at an early age to eastern Montana.

She was adopted out of the Montana Children's Home by Walter and Catherine Moffett of Roundup, where she started school. After the family moved to Spokane, Ruth graduated from North Central High School in 1929.

She graduated from the Deaconess School of Nursing in Spokane and moved to Libby, working as a registered nurse in the Libby Hospital.

She married David Foster on Dec. 26, 1936, at Libby.

During World War II, Ruth lived in Spokane, working at Deaconess Hospital.

In 1947 she returned to Libby to raise her family.

Following the death of her husband in 1971 Ruth returned to nursing in the Libby area, retiring in 1982 and moving to Sandpoint to be near her family.

She continued to work as a nurse in Sandpoint for a time and in 1998 she became a resident of the Alzheimer's Unit at Life Care.

A lifetime member of the Presbyterian Church, Ruth served as an elder when the new Presbyterian Church was built at Libby.

She also attended the Sandpoint Presbyterian Church for many years, was a life member of the Order of Eastern Star and was honored as a Girl Scout leader for more than 20 years.

Ruth enjoyed traveling and camping with her family, fishing, and gold panning in the mountain streams of Montana. For several years she had the tallest and largest sunflower entered in the Bonner County Fair.

Ruth will be remembered for her sense of humor and as "Grandma" to everyone in the family.

She is survived by daughters Arlene Bates, Seattle, and Nancy Coffelt, Sandpoint; 12 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to the Alzheimers Support Group, in care of Evalyn McIntire, 618 Oak St., Sandpoint, Idaho 83864.