Ruth L. Urbahn, 92

GRANGEVILLE: Ruth L. Urbahn, 92, of Grangeville passed away February 24, 2006 at the Grangeville Health and Rehab Center in Grangeville.

Miss Urbahn was born August 12, 1913 in Grangeville to Albert H and Dora L. (Struchtemeyer) Urbahn. She attended elementary school in Grangeville, then when she was about 9, the family moved to Blue Creek, Washington for a year before moving to Spokane, Washington. She completed elementary school and graduated from Holy Names Academy high school there in 1933. She attended Kinman’s Business College in Spokane and worked as a secretary there before returning to Grangeville in 1944 to work at Miller Hardware, the store her grandfather had purchased in 1913.

She and her brother Robert ran the business together for 37 years until Robert’s death in 1981; she continued working full- and then part-time at the store before failing eyesight caused her to retire in 1995. She was a past member and worthy matron of the Order of Eastern Star and a charter member (1949) of the Grangeville Soroptimist Club.

Her family wrote, “Although she never married, Ruth was an important member of many families both large and small –the families of her grandparents, her parents, her brother, her niece, her nephew, her cousin and even the extended families of those families. The love and compassion she gave us will never be forgotten.”

She is survived by her nephew, John Urbahn and his wife, Annelle, of Grangeville; niece Doris Thomas and her husband, S E. , of Eagle River, Alaska; grandnephews Kurt Urbahn of Grangeville and Robert E. (Bob) Thomas of Eagle River; and grandnieces Jonna Urbahn and Tommiann Whitten of Grangeville. Other survivors include her cousin Marguerite Bergeron of Spokane.

Services will be held at 2:00pm, Thursday, March 2, 2006 at the Blackmer Funeral Home, Grangeville. Pastor Cindy Roberts-Fierro of the Grangeville United Methodist Church will officiate. Burial will follow at Prairie View Cemetery, Grangeville. Friends may call, Wednesday, March 1, 2006 from 4:00 to 8:00pm at the funeral home.

The family requested donations be made to the Grangeville United Methodist Church roof or memorial fund.