Ruth Walden Metlen Obituary
In Chicago, Illinois, Ruth Ellen (Walden) Metlen was born on November 7, 1928, to Lee and Ninon (Wright) Walden. She died on January 6, 2021, in Baker City, Oregon.
In a household that valued family, hard work, and faith, Ruth grew up with her sister, Carol, in depression-era Chicago. Her father, Lee, worked for the railroad, and her mother, Ninon, was an accomplished pianist and organist for the local church. Ruth was also a pianist, singer and loved music. Ruth enjoyed spending summers with her grandparents and Aunt Mary. Ruth’s grandparents farmed on the side (one was a horse trader and the other a minister). Ruth also enjoyed camping on family trips around Lake Michigan.
In her youth, Ruth was struck by a car while crossing the street, which left her with life-long back and knee pain, but she was tenacious and never let it slow her down or deter life’s pursuits. Ruth was a secretary for the high school council, contributed to the school paper, a swim club member, and liked basketball, football, and any race. She enjoyed most foods, especially steak. Ruth graduated from high school in 1946.
Ruth left urban Chicago on an adventure to the rural west to pursue a career in wildlife management for the US forestry service by earning a degree in forestry and at the University of Idaho—Southern Branch, a two-year school in Pocatello, Idaho. In March 1947, the University of Idaho—Southern Branch was elevated to four-year status and renamed Idaho State College.
While at college, Ruth met the Forestry Club President and WWII veteran, Robert (Bob) William Metlen, the future love of her life and partner in adventure. They married on August 16, 1947, and took up residence in a small travel trailer, parked in a backlot at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, while Bob finished his range and forestry degree. She worked in the Moscow library, and they both worked at a hamburger grill (The Nest).
In the summer of 1948, they honeymooned in the Seven Devils of Idaho, and she developed a life-long passion for horses and wilderness. Bob was hired by the US Forest Service in 1952 at Seneca, Oregon. They lived in several states throughout their years — Idaho (Pocatello, Moscow, Nezperce and Boise); Washington (Eight Mile on the Chewack River, Okanogan, Twisp, and Early Winters near Mazama); and Oregon (Seneca, Unity, Joseph, Vale, La Grande, and Baker City).
Ruth relished living on the Western frontier and became the embodiment of grit and independence. She learned to run a household on minimal resources, often creating what Bob, she, and her three unruly boys needed from scratch and augmenting their meals with what they could grow from the ground or hunt from the woods. She was a fierce mother. Bob affectionately called her Ruthless.
Her family enjoyed her cooking and remembered fondly homegrown vegetables and dried and canned fruit, jams, jellies, pickles, roasts, biscuits, fruit salad, mincemeat, and pies. Ruth sewed colorful shirts, and they attended rodeos in style. She knitted sweaters with animal figures and had a special double-crochet stitch that was excellent for potholders and warm blankets. Her love was reading. Ruth had multiple subscriptions to magazines about health, gardening, homemaking, Reader’s Digest, and National Geographic. She loved books of all sorts. Louis L’Amour was a favorite author. Ruth and Bob rode boats and bicycles in Europe, toured Costa Rica, took a cruise to Alaska, and explore inland Alaska with Bob’s first cousin Dale Judge.
She and the family spent large amounts of time in the wilderness areas, ski hills, and rural communities still tied to natural resources. When she was 47 years old, Ruth and Bob canoed the Bowron Lake Circuit in British Columbia, Canada, a 72-mile loop of lakes, waterways, and portages. Ruth knew how to handle a gun and enjoyed elk hunting trips while camping in the snow. She was a ski patroller at Loup Loup and Anthony Lakes, taught American Red Cross first aid classes in Washington and Oregon, and occasionally a substitute teacher.
When the Forest Service closed the Pasayten District, Ruth and family moved to Unity, and then Joseph, Oregon. She and Bob retired to a small ranch near Vale, Oregon, where they hand-build their forever home and lived for over 30 years. Ruth and Bob remained in love throughout and were passionate about their mules, horses, dogs, cats, and rural way of life, and proud of their sons. Ruth maintained the family history and stories to pass on to future generations that otherwise might be forgotten.
Ruth was a devoted wife. When Bob developed Parkinson’s Disease and dementia, Ruth took care of him at home for as long as possible. When he moved to an assisted living facility, Ruth went to the facility every day where she talked to him, held his hand, and fed him until Bob’s death on October 31, 2007. In her final years, Ruth also developed dementia.
Surviving relatives include her three sons and daughters-in-law, Kit and Meryl Metlen of Olympia, Washington, Kim and Anita Metlen of Imbler, Oregon and Scott and Sherrie Metlen of Moscow, Idaho; seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren; and eight nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Metlen, her parents Lee and Ninon Walden, and sister and brother-in-law, Lew and Carol McDonald.
There are many photos at https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOf4mTdKLxFi_ykciySteW-sK7Gw5ZFzoLYGVQr5Qh6CYfMxQquMg9L5ghY1RViPA?pli=1&key=OHRPZTdHZjRDMWZaYWlubENnVjFvdWdlNm45YXNn