Ruth Johnson

After a sudden illness, Ruth Ann (Deffenbaugh) Johnson died on Dec. 3 at Swedish Medical Center in Littleton, Colorado.

Born to Maurice and Anna Duffy on July 18, 1929 in Whittemore, Ruth Duffy spent her first decade in Algona, Iowa as her father served as Kossuth County Treasurer for four terms. After Maurice lost his fifth bid for election in 1939 the Duffy family moved to Churdan.   

Ruth graduated from Churdan High School in 1947 and attended Ottumwa Heights College for two years. After working in Des Moines for a year and a half, Ruth enrolled in the University of Iowa in 1952 and graduated with a degree in English Literature. She went to work for the CIA in Washington D.C. and in September 1954 transferred to Vienna, Austria, where she discovered her love for skiing. Ruth left the CIA in October 1956 and spent the winter in pre-Castro Cuba before landing in Denver, where she worked at the Petroleum Club for 12 years during Denver’s oil boom era. On New Year’s Day 1959, Ruth met Dale Deffenbaugh on a ski trip to Loveland Ski Area. They married June 3, 1959. During her Denver years, Ruth also worked for the National Ski Patrol. A love for skiing turned into a passion for hiking, camping, backpacking and cross-country skiing with Dale and their dog Sham. Their membership in the Colorado Mountain Club sparked Ruth’s interest in birding.

In Aug. 1970, Ruth and Dale moved to Estes Park where Ruth took a job as the only employee at the Estes Park Public Library at $1.80 an hour. During the decade Ruth worked at the library, she modernized operations and, with the help of Lennie Bemiss, developed a local history collection. Ruth began traveling extensively with Ports of Call after her divorce from Dale in Nov. 1976. Ruth returned to Denver in the mid-1980s where she worked in hospital administration before going to work as a school board secretary. Ruth retired in 1998 and moved to Arizona where she met Boyd Johnson in the summer of 1999. They married in July 2000 and, after many happy years in Gold Canyon, moved back to Denver in 2009 to be close to family, especially Mike and Deb Mitchell and their children. After Boyd died Jan. 2011, Ruth continued her world travels and her love of music, art and family until the day she died.

Ruth was preceded in death by her parents Maurice and Anna Duffy, her husbands Boyd Johnson and Dale Deffenbaugh; her sister Katherine Duffy Hoefer, nephew Jeffrey Mitchell (Jeannette’s twin) and grandniece Amanda Kolanko. She is survived by her sister Rosemary Mitchell and her 10 nieces and nephews and their spouses: Steve and Lori Mitchell of Estes Park, Colo.; Jeannette Mitchell and Paul Bourque of Norwell, Mass.; David and Sandy Mitchell of Ft. Worth, Texas; Jody and Frankie Kolanko of Ketchikan, Ark.; Mike and Deb Mitchell of Littleton, Colo.; Lynn and Brandon Quan of Ketchikan, Ark.; Mitzie Mitchell and Frank Adams of Sierra Vista, Ariz.; Barbie and Bob Collins of Lynnwood, Wash.; Mark and Robin Mitchell of Muscatine; and Wally and Mary Hoefer of Ketchikan, Ark. Ruth is also survived by 20 grand nieces and nephews, one great-grandniece and one great-grandnephew.

There will be a celebration of Ruth’s life at a future time.

Memorial contributions may be made to Denver Botanic Gardens at http://www.botanicgardens.org/.
 

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