Ruth Card

Ruth H. Card (born Ruth Hannah Huntsman), 80, of Missoula, passed away on Monday, November 4th, 2024, at St. Patrick Hospital, four days after suffering a severe stroke. Before she slipped away there was time for all four of her daughters, her sister, and many of her grandchildren to make it to the hospital to hold her hand, whisper their overwhelming gratitude, kiss her good-bye, and surround her with love. 

Ruth was born on March 11, 1944 to Ruby and Myron Huntsman in Bozeman, MT, the third of six daughters. Her friends and family called her Ruthie and she was lively and mischievous. As a teenager, she sewed her own clothes and made bread once a week for her family, helping her mother take care of her three younger sisters. When Ruth was 16, she won first prize in the County Fair for her Cherry Pie and went on to the State Fair in Great Falls taking home first prize there as well. She also loved to ice skate and in the winter of her junior year of high school, she met a handsome young college student named George Card at the local ice-skating rink. She fell head over heels in love. Her parents moved her to Gresham, Oregon for her senior year, but when George sent her an engagement ring on her 18th birthday, they brought her back to Bozeman. She graduated from Bozeman High School that spring and they were married a week later on June 9, 1962 at The Soldiers Chapel in Big Sky.

The following summer George graduated with his master’s degree in Bacteriology and the young couple welcomed their first child Shoni. They moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where George earned his PhD in Microbiology. Their daughter Kim was born there in 1964 and Melissa in 1966. After a one-year postdoc in Maryland they moved to Missoula in 1967, when George began his teaching career at the University of Montana. They bought a home in the Rattlesnake and put down roots. Their fourth daughter Cady was born in 1971.

Ruth and George shared a deep faith in Jesus and when they moved to Missoula, they helped start the local chapter of Young Life. Their house was a second home to many young people. There were Bible studies, crazy skits, taffy pulling parties, and legendary water fights. Later Ruth was active in the First Presbyterian Church serving as a Deacon and Stephens Minister seeking to be the hands and feet of God to serve those around her. 

She saw the fingerprints of God in all that is good and true and beautiful. Ruth was an artist at heart and her whole life was her canvas. When she was young she painted in oils; later appling her creativity to everything from candle-making to refinishing furniture to braiding rugs. She remodeled every room in the house more than once. She was an excellent cook, gardener, and seamstress. She could sew anything from coats to wedding dresses and they were always exquisitely made. After the children left home, she painted beautiful watercolors in her sunroom studio. She loved color and birds and round babies and laughter. 

Ruth enjoyed learning and was an avid reader. In the 1980’s, she served on the Missoula County High School Board. She placed a high value on education and went back to full-time work as an administrative assistant at the university to help put her four daughters through college. In 1991, Ruth decided it was her turn to get a degree. She graduated with honors from the University of Montana in 1995 with a BA in English-Creative Writing. Her stories are a family treasure.

When her children traveled to far off places across the country or across the world, Ruth went to visit them, including trips to England, Scotland, and Italy. She and George found great joy in hiking in Glacier Park and biking the Hiawatha trail. They went fishing in Alaska and in his final days she took George to see the Grand Canyon. But mostly, she loved her home and she made it lovely, a place of beauty and comfort and solace.

Ruth loved us, her children and grandchildren deeply. She felt the profound responsibility of being a mother and grandmother and she strove to do it well. She nurtured in us a sense of wonder and curiosity. She taught us tenderness and tenacity. She stiffened our spines. She was our rock and anchor. The last week of October, just prior to her stroke, Ruth made two apple pies (perfectly flaky crust), washed and put up her storm windows, made a polar fleece jacket for one of her grandsons, and was helping one of her granddaughters with a sewing project. She prayed for us all daily. She finished well.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, and her sister, Priscilla Sester. Her beloved husband George left her widowed in 2013. Ruth is survived by her daughters, Shoni Card (Jeff Wilson), Kim Card, Melissa Bianco (Joe Bianco) and Cady Card-Andrew (David Andrew). Also surviving are her bevy of grandchildren: Paul (Kelsey) and Luke Wilson; Malcolm and Sidney Card-Gormley; Joe (Emily), Dave, Stephanie, Nicholas, John and George Bianco; and Finley, Fiona, Neva (Joseph Deckert), Lucy, David and Gillian Andrew; and great-grandchildren Julia Bianco; Gwendolyn and Rosalind Deckert. She is also survived by her close friend and dear sister Rhoda (Tracy) Kroon, niece Ashley Kroon (Erik Diehl) and nephew Colter Kroon, as well as her sisters Elizabeth Harkins, Rebekah Walrath, and Sarah Huntsman and cousins Jeff (Debbie) Greer, Tom Greer, and Gayle (Chris) Nurre, along with many nieces and nephews. The family is deeply grateful to the doctors and nurses of St. Patrick Hospital who cared for her tenderly in her last hours, the harpist from the Chalice of Repose, her church family, her caring neighbors, and to her dear friend of 50 years, Jo Jakupcak. 

The memorial service will be Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 235 S. Fifth St. W. in Missoula. A reception will follow in the church fellowship hall.