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Ruth Collett
Ruth Marie Collett died Dec. 1, 2013.
She was born in Nampa, on June 27, 1931, to Kirby and Winifred Foreman.
She was raised on the family ranch in Oreana all of her life. She was very proud of her ranching heritage.
She was the third daughter in a family of seven. Sister Beryle Saxton lives in Meridian, brother Neil Foreman (Frances) lives in Nampa, sister Bonnie Riley lives in Oreana and brother Robert Arland Foreman lives in Caldwell.
Ruth went to school the first eight years in a one-room schoolhouse on Castle Creek in Oreana. She went to High School in Boise and graduated from Boise High in 1949.
In 1947, Ruth was the Owyhee County Rodeo Queen.
In the summer of 1949, she worked for the Owyhee County courthouse and she also met the love of her life, Bobby Dan Collett. They married later that year in Reno, Nev., on Nov. 7, 1949.
Bob worked for Ruth's dad for a few years and then in 1961 he and Ruth leased the ranch and in 1966 they bought it. The family has been here for 119 years and is still running strong.
In the 1950s Ruth drove the mail route from Murphy to Oreana to the Castle Creek area.
Bob and Ruth spent many hard, but happy years living on the family ranch. They spent the winters in the valley and the summers on the mountain where the cow camp is. Ruth hauled water and cooked on a wood stove at cow camp until 1971, when Bob built a house on the mountain just for her.
She loved her garden and flowers and always liked to be working outside. But that did not stop her love for baking and sewing. She sewed many of her own clothes as well as for the kids. No matter what, her house was always spotless, as well.
Ruth was very involved in her community. She was the treasurer for the Catholic church for many years as well as bookkeeper and overall caretaker of the community hall.
Bob and Ruth just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year. Bob said they had a long and wonderful life together.
She is preceded in death by her dad, Kirby Foreman, mother Winifred Foreman, and sisters Neva Portlock Marshall and Patricia Novacek.
She is survived by husband Bob Collett, son Blaine Collett (Denise) and son Brian Collett (Christine), three grandsons, one granddaughter, three great-grandchildren, two sisters and two brothers.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church or the Oreana Community Hall.
Services will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5, with a viewing from noon to 1:45 p.m. at the Oreana Community Hall and funeral service at 2 p.m. at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church, with burial at the Oreana Pioneer Cemetery followed by a dinner at the Oreana Community Hall. Arrangements are under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel.