Ruth Frances Underdal, 95
Ruth Frances Underdal, 95, passed away on Friday, Aug. 13, 2010, in Sagle, Idaho.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010, at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint with Pastor Dave Olson of the First Lutheran Church officiating.
Ruth, the third of Ora and George Smith’s 4 children, was born Nov. 28, 1914, in Thompson Falls, Mont., where her father worked as a barber.
Shortly after Ruth was born the family moved to the Eagle Butte area near Geraldine, Mont., where they, along with Ruth’s two uncles and an aunt homesteaded. Her family remained on the homestead until she was 8. They moved to Geraldine, where her father established a barbershop, a hotel, a farm implement dealership and an auto dealership. She graduated from Geraldine High School and then from beauty college.
She met Murray Meyers whom she married in 1939. They settled in Harlowton, Mont., and their only child Kenneth Meyers, was born in 1942. Murray was drafted and after the war they moved to Great Falls, Mont. They subsequently divorced and she began working as a beautician in Volk’s Beauty Shop. She started and successfully operated her own shop, the Century Beauty Shop.
She met Clarence Underdal, a farmer from Ledger, Mont., and they married in 1953. Together they ran the farm for the next 30-plus years.
After becoming empty nesters they bought a vacation/fishing cabin at Duck Lake, Mont., and thoroughly enjoying catching and, especially, eating Duck Lake trout. They retired in the 1970s when they were relatively young, moving to Great Falls and living in Volk Terrace.
During their working and retirement years she organized trips for them to Europe, including two trips to Norway, the Middle East, and the Far East. Into their retirement they became snowbirds wintering at Venture Out in Mesa, Ariz. They begin golfing, playing almost year around. Clarence passed in 1996. In 1998 Ruth moved into her Westwood condo in Sandpoint, Idaho.
She began spending her summers and then her entire year at Westwood. She moved into Luther Park when she was 93.
She had been amazingly mentally alert and physically active, she was driving safely at 94. She was tender-hearted toward animals and was devoted to her two grandchildren: Timothy Meyers, his wife Stacia and their two children, Mitch and Samantha; and Tiffany Kolchins, her husband David and their two children, Alex and Caitlin. She is also survived by her daughter-in-law, Judy Meyers, with whom she had great affection, and her two children, Jonathan Barnes and Sarah dos Remidios; and by her brother, George Smith, his wife, Margo, of Great Falls and their two children.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Clarence; and two sisters, Wilda and Thelma.
Me- morial donations may be made to Bonner Community Hospice, PO Box 1448, Sandpoint, ID 83864.
Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint is handling the arrangements.
Please visit Ruth’s online memorial at www.lakeviewfuneral.com and sign her guest book.