Ruth Holme Webster

Ruth Anne Webster passed away in the garden she lovingly tended  for decades at the family home.

She was born in Salinas, CA on January 7th, 1930 and was welcomed by her parents Henry and Ruth (Anderson) Holme as well as an older sister, Jane. Seven years later another sister Lyndal would be born and this youngster would give Ruth Anne the endearing nickname of “Ootie”. It became the name most of her extended family and childhood friends would call her through the rest of her long and full life.

Her father was a prominent lettuce grower in the Salinas Valley. During the summer months, Ootie loved to spend time out on the Corey Ranch where her grandparents lived. 

The three sisters grew up with a love for riding horses and were thrilled when their parents bought a second place in Carmel Valley providing a break from the tule fog Later “Emlohah” would be the highlight summer fun as the Holme girls and their own families gathered together for a reunion there each August. 

Ootie attended the University of Colorado, Boulder where she studied early childhood education and made new friends within the  Chi Omega Sorority. She met Harry Kent Webster while on a double date in Boulder and married him on August 23, 1952. 

They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary this past August.  

After their marriage, Ruth and Kent set up their first home in Denver while he finished law school at DU. They welcomed their first son, Scott, there and then picked up stakes to move to the Western Slope with its appeal of both mountains and desert canyons nearby. Three more children- Brien, Lyndal and Susan were born at St. Mary’s.  

The four kids kept Ruth busy as a den mother, scout leader, ski and swim team mom. She was a maker of terrific picnic lunches, comfort food, aebleskivers, casseroles and cookies. Throughout these busy years she found peace and pride tending her garden.  

Ruth was a Charter member of PEO Chapter GF and received a 50 year pin this past year to recognize her service and active participation. In their golden years Ruth and Kent also enjoyed Saturday Nighters, Square Dancing, golf trips, Ports of Call, and traveling in their RV to northwestern mountain regions, Canada, Alaska, and New England. They also had fun each year traveling and gathering with Ootie’s kindergarten group of friends whom she had known for decades. 

It gave her great joy to be out on a mountain stream fly fishing. She maintained a competitive spirit in tennis, cards, and 4th of July neighborhood baseball games. She hit a hole in one during her golf years.  

Ruth loved working at Walker Fields Colorado Ski Country booth  as a greeter for skiers arriving into GJ . She skied well into her ‘80’s with her “lady friends” and loved telling her kids how many non-stops she made in a day. 

She could take on anyone in frenzied games of Solitaire. She could take a joke even if she didn’t get it and was a wizard at telling rambling, roundabout stories that would eventually get to the point…often long after anyone remembered what the original point was. She hid Hershey bars in the house and was none too pleased when one went missing. She did not suffer fools gladly (especially the two middle ones) but she cared deeply for each and every one of her kids and their families. 

Ootie loved her mountains and John Denver as well as Utah’s canyons and Willie Nelson. Her camping bliss was sitting with family around the campfire eating s’mores while her son-in-law played old tunes on the harmonica. Her sense of adventure included one hairball float down Plateau Creek, ending with her canoe wrapped around the big rock in the last turn of the canyon. At home, she looked forward to seeing the morning sun and shadows on the Monument and later the sunset coloring up the Bookcliffs, these were the meaningful measures of her days. 

Survivors include children Scott (Maripat) Webster, Brien (Feryl) Webster, Lyndal (Ted) Smith, Susan Webster, 10 grandchildren, her brothers in-law Howard Walker and Brien Webster and numerous nieces and nephews. Arrangements have been entrusted to Brown's Funeral Home. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date. 

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Hope West, PEO Projects Fund, or the Bears Ears Partnership.