A Tennant Family

Ruth was born 8 June 1919 in Parker, Idaho to the parents of Carl Albert Neilson and Edna Mildred Farley. She was the oldest of eight children.

Ruth's childhood was pretty much normal for the time period in which she was born. She did have meningitis at the age of about two or three years. This was followed by lumbar pneumonia along with the usual childhood diseases. This seemed to set the pattern of her life as far as health problems were concerned.

She was graduated from the eight grade in Twin Falls, Idaho. She met and married Henry Dick Jr. at the age of sixteen on May 18, 1935 in Twin Falls, Idaho. They had three children: Jack M. Dick, Florence Edna Mitchell, and Allen M. Dick.

They lived in Twin Falls where Jack was born, then moved to Filer, Idaho where Florence was born, and then moved to Jerome, Idaho where Allen was born. They moved to Nevada for a short time during World War II where Henry worked on bomb shelters. From there they moved to Astoria, Oregon and ship yards in Astoria. There was a greater need to have him work on the big ships that were being built in Portland, Oregon. So they moved to Vanport, Oregon. Vanport was a federal housing area for people that worked in the shipyards. Ruth worked as a waitress in various restaurants at this period of time. After the war was over Henry went to Alaska and worked on the underground bomb storage's for a period of six to eight months.

It was hard on the family to have him gone but he made good money, and that is what they needed at this time of their lives. Shortly after Henry returned home from Alaska, Vanport was flooded out, and they lost all that they had and had to start over. They moved to Lake Grove, Oregon to start their lives over.

It had to be very hard on them at this time of their lives. They rented a place for a period of time, and then they were able to buy a small house a few miles from where they rented.

It was at this time that Ruth and Henry began having marital problems that resulted in a divorce in 1955. Ruth left the family and no one knew where she was or what she did. The family didn't know if she was alone or dead. She finally came back to see her children after about eight yeas absence.

She never talked about her time away from home except to say that she lived in Denver, Colorado for a while and then lived near her dad in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At this time she did live in Vinita, Oklahoma.

While back in Portland, she met a man by the name of Peter Glenn Scott and they seemed to be quite happy. They married in Vancouver, Washington on 5 July 1967. However, they were divorced a short time later. Ruth worked as a caretaker for the elderly at this time of her life. She retired a short time later and lived in Portland until she passed away on 5 November 1993 in her apartment. The autopsy revealed that she died from a massive heart seizure.

There are three surviving sons and daughters, 12 grandchildren, 13 great-great-grandchildren and seven brothers and sisters.