Ruth M. Thomas, of Big Lake Washington, was born in Colfax Wa on September 21, 1930. She was the youngest of the six children born to Orlen Chesnut and Sophia (Angerer) Chesnut.

Ruth enjoyed school and liked to tell the story of how she won a primary school spelling bee following an illness and hospitalization without having studied at all. Ruth returned to class on the day of the spelling contest and described how her fellow students gave up because they knew what an accomplished speller she was. "Oh. Ruth's back." was one dejected boy's comment. Her prize was a small statue of the Blessed Virgin which she kept on display in her living room.

Ruth graduated eighth grade from St John's Academy in Colfax. She then attended St. Joseph Academy in Sprague, Washington where she served as prefect for Our Lady's Sodality (a Roman Catholic religious guild) for two years and was the class Valedictorian. After graduating High School in 1948 she entered the novitiate at Sisters of Charity of Providence in Seattle.

Ruth returned home after much careful consideration and prayer a couple of years into her religious training.

Ruth was inspired to attend Holy Names College in Spokane. Then briefly worked briefly as an Otis elevator operator at St Ignatius Hospital in Colfax where she also worked shifts at the switchboard. She described having to turn a wheel to make the elevator go up or down, but the tricky part was timing the car's descent just right so that it would halt evenly with the floor. If the pulley mechanism started slipping too much, Ruth would have to call the engineer to fix it. "It's a good thing there were stairs!"

Ruth enjoyed car trips, and learned to drive a car so that she and a girlfriend could drive to Yellowstone with a close friend. She told a story of the car breaking down on the side of the road. A short time later, a good Samaritan stopped and helped them get back on the road. "It was so kind of him to stop because he had his whole family in the car with him. Otherwise we would have been stranded in the middle of nowhere!" Ruth also fondly remembered a road trip she took to sunny California with her oldest sister, Elizabeth. The two young ladies traveled up and down the coast, exploring and stopping at the Spanish Missions.

Ruth was inspired to earn her degree as a Medical Records Librarian and enrolled at Providence Hospital in Seattle. After completing her instruction, Ruth met her future husband on a blind date. They spent their first date attending a young Catholics dance, and they were married 11 months later.

Ruth attended church devoutly and joined the Alleluia prayer group. Ruth was active in the LaLeche League, Ruth enrolled her children in the Saddlebums 4H group where she helped them in equestrian and food / homemaking activities. After raising their five children, Ruth attended Skagit Valley College in the 1980's and earned an Associates of Arts degree and used her new skills to become politically active. Ruth worked tirelessly against the proposed

fluoridation of public water supplies and was a staunch pro-life advocate. Ruth was elected to the position of precinct committee officer in the late 1980's and held that position for two years.

Ruth is preceded in death by her husband Kenneth, and her siblings: Elizabeth, John, Mary, Andrew, and Robert. She is survived by her children: Monica, Tim, Marie, Rosalie, and Peter.

A Funeral Mass will be held Thursday, April 24th, 2025, 10:00am at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Sedro Woolley with a recepton to follow.  A graveside service will be held t at 1:00pm at Hawthorne Memorial Park in Mount Vernon.

Please share your thoughts of Ruth and sign the online guest register at www.hawthornefh.com