Ruth Nettleton

Ruth Nettleton passed away on November 13, 2024

Ruth Malmquist Nettleton was born on April 13, 1931, to Gus and Lima Griffin Malmquist in Ekalaka, MT. She was raised on the ranch 20 miles northwest of Ekalaka on H7 Creek. Ruth attended grade school at the O'Fallon School and graduated from Carter County High School in 1949.

Shortly after graduating, she began working in Miles City. Her older sister and her husband, Jean and Elwood Lynch, came to visit and talked her into going back to Helena with them. She worked in various jobs there until beginning work as a bookkeeper at Fort Harrison, the VA facility west of Helena, retiring there after 25 years.

Ruth met her future husband, Elmer Nettleton, at a dance in East Helena. The two were soon married, and she went with Elmer when he was drafted into the service in 1951. After Elmer's discharge, they returned to Helena and bought a small place in Helena valley. Prickly Pear Creek runs the length of the property and was used to irrigate a small hayfield and provide year-round pasture for their horses and some roping and bulldogging cattle. A long barn there was the site where many friends and neighbors came to practice roping and steer wrestling. Elmer rodeoed for many years with Ruth traveling with him always. They would leave on Friday after work, travel many miles throughout Montana and Canada, then be back to work Monday morning at Fort Harrison. Occasionally, their nieces and nephews from Ekalaka happened to be visiting and got to go along for the weekend, making unforgettable memories.

In the mid-1980's, Ruth entered the rodeo arena as a barrel racer and then a ribbon roper. She won the 60+ Senior Pro Ribbon roping championship with Elmer in 1993 and the Senior Pro Barrel racing championship in 1994, while also claiming the 60+ Women's All-around in 1994. During this time, they bought a small property in Arizona and spent the winters enjoying the warmth.

Ruth's parents, Gus and Lima, moved to Helena in 1969. Ruth spent many years taking care of them as well as working full-time and rodeoing on the weekends.

Ruth is preceded in death by her husband, Elmer; her parents; brothers Donald, Norman, Richard and Glenn; sisters Jean (Elwood) Lynch and Janice (Milton) Markuson; nephews Steve Markuson and Tyler Markuson; and a niece Carla Markuson Peterson.

She is survived by her brother-in-law, Milton Markuson of Ekalaka; nieces Carol Lynch Karst of Billings, Karen Markuson Kreitel of Ekalaka, Anita Malmquist of Bozeman, Bobbie Jo Malmquist of Newcastle, WY; nephews Gary Lynch of Helena, Daryl Malmquist of Three Forks, Curtis Malmquist of Hollis, Maine, and John Malmquist of Semmes, Alabama; brother-in-law Jay Nettleton; special friends and caregivers, Michelle, Treg and Haven Wollstein.

Interment will take place on December 2, 2024 at 12pm where Ruth will be interred next to her husband Elmer at the Montana State Veteran's Cemetery- Fort Harrison, 3550 Heroes Rd., Fort Harrison, MT 59636. Condolences in memory of Ruth can be shared at http://www.aswfuneralhome.com.