Riverton resident Ruth L. Johnson, known affectionately as "Grandma Ruth," died on Tuesday, April 3, 2007, at Riverton Memorial Hospital after a short illness. She was 92 years old.
Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 11, at the Davis Funeral Home, 2203 West Main, Riverton. The Rev. Michael Johnson will officiate.
Lunch will be served, following the service, at The Bull Restaurant, 1100 West Main Street, Riverton.
An evening visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at the Davis Funeral Home.
Ruth Linnea Danielson was born on July 6, 1914, in Chicago, Ill. She was the third child of seven children of Swedish immigrants Johan and Karolina Danielson. She attended schools in Chicago and worked in various capacities to support the war efforts.
On Dec. 19, 1942, she married Per Helmer Johnson, also a Swedish immigrant, in Chicago. Together they managed the poultry operations of the Curtis Candy Company Farms in Cary, Ill. Their only child, Howard, was born in January of 1948 in Elgin, Ill.
In 1950, the family moved to Lena, Wis., to develop their own poultry business. They operated that business until retirement in 1975.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson moved to Riverton in 1978 to be with their son and his family, who had moved to Riverton in 1977 to own and operate an engineering and surveying business.
Her family said Mrs. Johnson loved being with her family and one of the things of which she was the most proud was her work as a foster grandmother with the Absaroka Head Start School in Riverton. She volunteered there starting at the age of 65 and retired at the age of 90 after touching the lives of several hundred four-year-olds.
Mrs. Johnson is survived by her son, Howard Johnson; grandsons, Bryan Johnson and Brett Johnson and wife Karen; great grandchildren, Angel and Bryan; sisters, Ellen Bywell, Ann Jankowski, Ingrid Wiebe and her husband Art; two sisters-in-law, Norma Danielson and Marge Danielson, and eight nieces, nephews, and their spouses.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; daughter-in-law, Cherie Johnson; two brothers, Gustav and Leonord; one sister, Edith, and one niece, Caroline.
Memorial may be made to the Absaroka Head Start School - Riverton Center, in care of Howard M. Johnson, 1617 West Main Street, Riverton, WY 82501.
Services are under the direction of the Davis Funeral Home of Riverton.