Ruble Golda Montgomery

Ruble was born June 20, 1919, in a little town called Fox, Arkansas. At an early age her family moved to Bisbee, Arizona, so her father could work in the copper mines. She attended a Lutheran school there and did very well. When her father’s health started declining they decided to move back to Arkansas. Her father traded his Model T Ford car straight across no money involved for a small farm, which he farmed and, also, worked full time in a local coal mine. Unfortunately, he developed Black Lung and died at the age of 42. After her father died, she married at 16. Ruble and her husband had two boys: Harvie and Gene. They moved to St. Louis where her husband was serving in the Army. Shortly after moving to St. Louis their marriage ended. Ruble and her sons remained in St. Louis because of her job. Ruble worked for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation (of the famous Orville and Wilbur Wright brothers who flew their homemade “flying machine” and made history in 1929) and she was one of the historic World War II “Rosie the Riveters.” Ruble was so tiny that she could crawl inside the wings of the planes to do the riveting.

In 1945 the war was over and so were the jobs that women had held while the men were at war.

Ruble and sons returned to Arkansas where Ruble did whatever it took to make a living. She would do housecleaning and waitressing to take care of her boys. In the summer of 1949, Ruble, Harvie and Gene went to Yampa, Colorado when Ruble was invited to work for her uncle in the Yampa Café for the summer. To get there, Ruble, Harvie and Gene rode in the back of a big truck with several other families who were also traveling to Yampa for summer work. During that summer, Ruble caught the eye of Mervin Montgomery, the most eligible bachelor in town, and after a short courtship they were married, and Ruble never had to go back to Arkansas to live. She loved Colorado. She worked alongside her new husband Mervin in the grocery store he owned with his brother. Mervin eventually sold his partnership to his brother and purchased another small grocery store in Yampa.

A man from Arvada, Colorado who loved the Yampa Valley and was a regular summer visitor at Mervin’s grocery store at some point offered Mervin his home in Arvada in exchange for Mervin’s grocery store with no money involved and Mervin accepted the offer. So, in 1959 they moved to Arvada -- Mervin had taken a job in Aurora and Ruble got a job at The Denver Dry Goods Company Warehouse. Sadly, Mervin passed away in 1970 when Ruble was only 51 years old. Ruble never remarried.

She continued working at The Denver Dry Goods Warehouse until she retired at age 66 after 25 years there. To keep busy and because she enjoyed the extra spending money to spend on her family, she worked part time for five more years for the Burlington Coat Factory. Her customers loved her and sought her out for her helpful advice.

Ruble worked hard all her life. Her greatest joys were her two boys (Harvie, deceased January 2016 and Gene, now 77), her three grandchildren and four great grandchildren. She was a “down home country” cook and hostess, and always took pride in her great housekeeping abilities. She loved having family dinners and holiday celebrations. She was a stylish dresser and loved to shop for the perfect bargain. In her later years she lived for 16 years with her son Harvie and his wife Beverly and was able to enjoy watching her great grandchildren grow up. Ruble blessed many people during her 99 years of life. She was truly a generous and gracious lady who continued to give everything she had to give to the very end of her life on November 5, 2018.

We love you, Ruble. You and your beautiful smile and fun “wit” will be missed every day.