Ruth Augusta Nutter

The following collection of life events and thoughts was written by Ruth Nutter. Prompted by a class she took a couple of years ago on writing her life story, a portion of this account was written by her own hand. The rest was dictated to her granddaughter, Tracy, who was interested in recording more treasures from this wonderful woman's life. Ruth was never one to talk much about herself - she was more concerned with serving and hearing about others - so it's not surprising that acquiring some of these stories was like pulling teeth. We are so thankful for what Ruth left us - not so much in word, as in action and love.

I was born in Port Orchard, WA on October 28, 1909. I was the second of 6 children, 4 girls and 2 boys. My father, Walfrid John Anderson came to the United Stares from Savar, Sweden in 1901 at the age of 22. he had worked and built a house on 31st and Spring Street in Seattle.

He had courted my mother, Augusta, before leaving Sweden but hadn't written to her from the US for 5 years. Eventually he got to thinking of her. He wrote to her and told her he was coming back to Sweden, and that he wanted her to come to the United States to marry him. She wasn't too enthused about leaving Sweden. She loved her home land, but Dad was persuasive and they were married in Seattle, at First Covenant Church in 1906. They left for Nome, Alaska and Dad took off, 100 miles away from Nome, to prospect on his own with 2 friends. He didn't see Mother all summer. She learned the language working in the hotel kitchen.

The later came back to Seattle and bought 100 acres in Port Orchard. My grandmother (Farmor) came with them, but she was very unhappy there. They were so isolated. My sister Linnea was born there in 1908. I was 2 months old when the folks moved to Seattle. They had had enough of the rocks, stumps, and the isolation. We had a good home on the North side of Queen Anne, close to Seattle Pacific College. My sister Alice, brother Wallace, sister Effie, and brother Walter were born there. Brother Walter died at age 1 1/2. We all missed baby brother. We had fruit trees in our yard, and Dad always had a large vegetable garden. Mother canned a lot of things. We had a cow and chickens.

The nearest drugstore was in Fremont, and there wasn't a bridge at that time, so we'd have to go down to the foot of Queen Anne and ring a bell. The old fella would come across the canal in his row boat and take us across. My older sister Linnea and I went over to Fremont Avenue to the drugstore one day, and got a prescription filled. On the way back, Linnea dropped the bottle and broke it. Linnea started crying, and a lady walking by us (an angel!) saw our predicament and offered to pay for a new bottle.

We had a cow and Linnea would take it up to the woodsy area and stake it out. Linnea loved that cow, and I didn't like it. I think I was afraid of it! We also had chickens and a pig at one time. It was against the law to have a pig, so we kept it beneath our barn. We'd walk down to the college, to the kitchen area, where they'd saved the peelings for us to bring the pig. Linnea would say that they left the best part of the potato for the pigs.

I had pigtails, and Dad wouldn't let me cut them until I got a lot older. I finally was able to get my hair cut, and then I got a kinky permanent. Poor Momma, I think she had to go along with everything Dad said. He didn't want us to look in the mirror and primp, and then a while later, he'd stand in front of the mirror, combing his hair. Mama was a gentle, kind person; a real good mother. She loved Sweden, but gave that up when Father wrote her after five years to say he was coming to get her to marry him. I wasn't too close to my parents, but us kids were all pretty close.

Eva Brown was my close friend, ever since High School. We had to walk up to Queen Anne High School from our homes each day.

Eva remained Ruth's close friend through the years.

The above was read by Tonya (Langford) Wishart at Ruth's funeral in 1995.