Ruth A Azzara

– Once in a lifetime, a person comes along whose sheer grace of presence, and positivity of outlook, stays with you forever .... and, whose 'better angels of her nature," never had to be conjured up, for they embodied her, from her first breath to her last. Such was the rare persona of our dear mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Ruth Azzara.

Ruth passed from our lives Nov. 12, 2016, at St. Patrick Hospital, of medical complications following a fall in her home three weeks earlier. She was 91, and her devoted family was with her throughout.

Born Ruth Amelia Snyder, Feb. 22, 1925, (George Washington's birthday as she was proud to say,) in Hoboken, New Jersey, Ruth was the youngest surviving child of nine children born to her mother, Cora Edna Thompson (whose family dated back to the American Revolution,) and father, David Benjamin Snyder, a Lackawanna Railroad switch tower supervisor at the Montclair, New Jersey, station.

Ruth grew up in Bloomfield and Montclair, and attended Montclair High School, when in 1942, at the age of 17, she entered the Federal Telephone and Telegraph (I.T.T.) Radio Communications Program during the World War II war effort. Her title was "Inspector of Receivers and Transmitters." She was so skilled at her job, and attractive in her person, that I.T.T. featured her in a full cover photograph, for their publication that year, performing her job testing transmitters. It was at I.T.T. in 1943 in the same Radio Communications Program, that she met the love of her life, and soon to be husband of 69 years, Thomas J. Azzara. They were married that same year, and remained happily married until Tom's death in Missoula in 2012.

Ruth and Tom lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey, when first married, then in 1948 moved to Nutley, New Jersey, where they raised their three children, sons Tom and Jim and daughter, Chris. During these years Ruth created a home of warmth and love for her husband and children, always cooking delicious and nutritious meals nightly and managing the household with aplomb. Ruth's love of nature and beautification of her surroundings prompted her to join the "Nutley Garden Club" where she was able to assist in the town's efforts in this regard.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ruth worked as a sales representative for Avon Products, Inc. and due to her immediate success and natural ability as a sales/people person, she was offered a position as district manager for the North Eastern part of New Jersey (which she declined, as many women of her era did,) as her youngest child was still in grade school. Later in her retirement years, she also worked as a department store cashier and as a Missoula County election judge. Always industrious, her hands were never idle.

In 1980 Ruth and Tom moved from New Jersey to Missoula, to be near their three children, all of whom had already relocated there due to their love of the mountains and open spaces. Ruth loved the mountains too...and the deserts...and the oceans, and due to her lifelong love of nature and beautiful places, she wrote and recorded for posterity, many interesting observations of the many places she and Tom visited during their 25 years of RVing in their motor homes. Once when asked about her favorite lifetime experiences she replied "Seeing and meeting people from many states and other countries... I love this country, it is so beautiful and diverse. Travel gives me a wonderful sense of independent action.”

From the time Ruth moved to Missoula in 1980 until last summer of 2016, she greatly enjoyed spending time with her children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, both in Missoula year round and Flathead Lake in the summers. One of her many writings said "Being with my children was the most uplifting part of my life."

Ruth Azzara possessed so many fine character attributes it is difficult to list them all, but important to try, in order to do justice to her memory as a rare human being. Above all, she was an unfailingly kind, nonjudgmental and endearing soul, who never met a person in whom she could not find some good. Always smiling and eager to help, her unwavering sense of truthfulness, integrity and ethical behavior, inspired everyone around her to be a better person. She was friendly to all, an empathetic listener and made everyone who met her feel immediately at ease. Always the lady, she practiced the best manners, cared about diction and grammar (had always hoped to be an English teacher), and even at 91, was fashionable and "put together" in her look! Until her health prevented it, she took her civic duty seriously.., read the newspaper, kept up on current events, and as long as she could, voted in every election.

Ruth had many talents as well. She was a great tap dancer - loved the old soft shoe - and was tap dancing on her 90th birthday and beyond. Whenever an appropriate song rhythm tickled her fancy, she was known to drop everything and start dancing on the spot to everyone's enjoyment! She loved music and singing-especially dixieland jazz and old WWI songs, which she taught to her children and sang in perfect pitch, to her last days.