Ruth Alyce Gilbertson

Ruth Alyce (Fuhrman) Gilbertson, 96, passed peacefully on to the great dance floor in the sky on March 25, 2015. She had been a resident of Valley View Home since 2011.

She was born March 21, 1919, at the family home in the Baylor community in North Valley County, the third child of 10 born to Peter K. and Pauline (Miller) Fuhrman. She was raised on the family farm/ranch and had many stories to tell of growing up with her nine siblings and numerous cousins that lived near them. She often told of scaring her mother to death when she was little by climbing to the top of the windmill – quite the tomboy.

She attended the Fuhrman School in Baylor as a young child, moving to Glasgow during her high school years. She graduated in 1936 – one full year ahead of schedule.

She met her future husband, Olaf Gilbertson, through mutual friends. He had come to Valley County from Stanley, N.D., to work on the Fort Peck Dam. They married July 27, 1940, and moved to Niehart, Mont., where he worked in the mines. They soon decided that was not where they wanted to be and returned to Glasgow to be near family. Other than a short span of years when they lived in Tucson, Ariz., they spent their entire married life in Valley County. They farmed and ranched northeast of Glasgow from 1958 until they retired in the 1980s.

Anyone that knew Ruth knew of her love of dancing. She and Ole loved to waltz and two-step. After he passed, you could always find her wherever Cap Holter or Dudley and the Deadbeats were playing. She danced right up until having a stroke - while dancing at the Elk's Club - in 2011.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Olaf, in 1998; one son, Leslie, in 2013; one grandson, Lance; eight siblings, Walt, Clarence, Melvin, Earl, Jim and Kenny Fuhrman, Lenore Alden and Phyllis Campbell.

Survivors include children, Deanna Jones of Glasgow, Kristi Schulz and her husband, Ted, of Sacramento, Calif., Gordon Gilbertson of Roundup, Ron Gilbertson and his wife, Cary, of Glasgow, and Jeff Gilbertson and his wife, Rosario, of Missoula; one sister, Barbara Bales of Scottsdale, Ariz.; 16 grandchildren, including Tracey Jones Waarvik of Glasgow, Julie Jones McGehe of Snoqualmie, Wash., Scott Gilbertson and Lori Barnett of Miles City, Cody Gilbertson of Bozeman, Tawne Gilbertson Sweet of Castle Rock, Wash., Rod Cornwell of Okinawa, Shana Gilbertson Myren of Kalispell, Trina Cornwell Hill of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Russ Gilbertson of Glasgow, John Gilbertson of Columbia Falls, Nick Schulz of Portola, Calif., Katie Schulz of Cotati, Calif., Carli Schulz of Chico, Calif., and Jessica and Michael Gilbertson of Missoula; as well as numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

Dance on, Mom ... happy you're free of pain.

Funeral services were held March 30 at the First Lutheran Church in Glasgow, followed by burial in the Highland Cemetery in Glasgow.

Bell Mortuary of Glasgow is in charge of arrangements.