Ruth Shields Obituary

Ruth Jeanette Ginter Shields died July 30, 2014, in a traffic accident north of Durango. She was 89.

She was born May 1, 1925, in Custer, South Dakota, to Paul L. Ginter and Cora M. (Baske) Ginter. The family moved to Colorado in 1929.

She attended Colorado A&M in Fort Collins, graduating with a degree in forestry. She worked driving cattle, on a hay crew and was proud to have run a stacker and dump rake and to have finished a green broke horse.

On Nov. 21, 1948, she married Chester A. Shields, a forestry student from Durango. They moved to Happy Jack, Arizona. Later, they moved to New Mexico, living in Mountainair, Taos, and Peñasco. After a year in Boston, the family moved to Durango, then the Denver area in 1959.

The family then moved to Springfield, Virginia, in 1963.

Retiring to Durango in 1978, they joined the San Juan Basin Archaeology Club. She also volunteered at the Durango Arts Center.

She played sports, was an avid alpine and Nordic skier, enjoyed fly fishing and beekeeping.

After the death of her husband in 2000, she sailed with Elderhostel adventures in the Puget Sound. She pursued silversmithing, wood carving, Native American pottery and watercolor painting classes in New Mexico, houseboating and canoeing.

She kept a daily weather record for the past 36 years was a member of Durango Discussion Group and the Great Ideas group at the Durango library.

She lived her life with a dog by her side, family said, and could be seen being led by her dog, Gypsy, for their daily two mile walk, wearing a baseball cap with a feather tucked in the side.

She is survived by her two sons, Patrick Shields, of Cañon City, and Paul Shields, of Durango; her daughter, Diane Cassidy, of Durango; sisters Eileen Lorraine Holden, of Fair Oaks, California, and Fay March, of Grand Rapids, Michigan; three granddaughters and several cousins, nieces and nephews.

Cremation has occurred. A celebration of her life will be held at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made in her honor to San Juan Basin Archaeology Scholarship Program; 107 St. Andrews Circle; Durango, CO 81301. Donations also can be made to La Plata County Humane Society, 1111 S. Camino del Rio, Durango, CO 81303; San Juan Mountains Association, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, CO 81301; or to the National Museum of Forest Service History, P.O. Box 2772, Missoula, MT 59806