Ruth Porter passed away on April 4, 2018. Ruth was born in Seattle on May 27, 1926 then moved with her mother, Crescent Adams, to Butte, Montana as a young child. She spent her childhood in Butte as well as White Sulphur Springs, MT. During the Great Depression years Ruth, her mother and stepfather, Dave Adams, worked any job to survive, including capturing rattle snakes to sell. Ruth even played the piano in a family run saloon at 12 years old. She babysat a young child who turned out to be Evel Knievel the daredevil motorcyclist. She graduated from Butte High School. 

When WW II broke out Ruth came back to Seattle and enrolled at Seattle College, later named Seattle University, in the Cadet Nursing program.  She would have become an Army nurse, but the war ended. At Seattle U she met a young Navy veteran, Robert J. Porter, attending college on the GI bill. They married shortly thereafter.  They settled in Seattle, then the Angle Lake community and finally in Burien. They were married for 69 years at her passing.

Ruth worked as a nurse and worked on and off at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle for 30 years. She may have helped bring you into life as a Nurse supervisor in the Maternity ward or helped save your life when she worked with the Medic One cardiac team in its early years.

Her interests included boating in the Salish Sea with Bob and their cat in Canadian and US waters. They kept a boat in Des Moines for many years. She and Bob traveled the world in their later years. Her interest in history and literature enriched their experiences greatly. She was very involved and supportive of Bob in the Early Ford V8 Car Clubs. They could be seen together in any of several cars from the 1930’s and 40’s at picnics and rally’s.

Her greatest love was her family. She is survived by her husband Bob and her children: John, Mike, Marilyn, Paula Porter Hopkins, and Rob Porter; 12 grandkids and 10 great grandkids. She was and always will be the guiding light and glue that has kept them all together. Gone before her are her daughter Kathleen (Porter) Walker and Kathleen’s daughter Carrie (Walker) Bookless.

Services will be held Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 11:00 at:

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

15236 21st Ave

Burien, WA 98166

A reception will be held at 12:00 to 1:00 right after the service in the basement of the church. Following the reception Ruth will be buried at Hilltop Cemetery in Kent next to her daughter Kathleen Walker.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests a donation to the Washington Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association    www.alz.org  An online Guest Book is available to sign at www.marlattfuneralhome.com under Ruth Porter’s name.