Ruby Marie Gale Lord

Surrounded by her family, Ruby Marie Gale Lord passed away on January 31, 2022, in Great Falls, MT, aged 99 years and 3 months. Ruby was born October 20, 1922, to parents Edson and Jessie Gale, at the home ranch south of Cody, Nebraska. Ruby enjoyed a big family growing up as the second of eight children with six sisters and one brother. A rambunctious child, Ruby explored sand blowouts, made mudpies decorated with wild roses, constructed miniature corrals and sheds with corn cobs and cut paper dolls from catalogs. Early chores included bringing in bushel baskets of cow chips to burn in the stove, picking wild fruit, helping with the garden, canning, and helping cook for the large family and hired help. As she grew older, there were baskets of ironing to be done for the family who wore dresses every day! Ruby attended a rural school for grade school, then boarded out to attend high school in Valentine, NE, graduating in 1940. She received a teaching certificate and taught in a rural school for one year, boarding with a local family and riding a retired racehorse back and forth to school. The house was a runaway every morning and evening! Ruby married ranching neighbor John Lord on June 27, 1941. They worked on several ranches and lived in Valentine a short time before moving to the Sandhills Ranch along the Snake River in rural Nebraska in 1949. They were blessed with five children: Gordon Lee, Virginia Gale, Lynda Jean, Phyllis Beth and Larry Lynn, born between the years of 1942 and 1960. In 1962 the Sandhills Ranch was acquired by the government to build a dam on the Snake River. That same year Ruby and John purchased a ranch south of Great Falls and moved the family to live along the Smith and Missouri Rivers, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Ruby was a devoted ranch wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was a fantastic cook, loved to read, and collected books, cardinals, windmills, and dishes. Family was everything to Ruby! Highlights included Christmas Eve gatherings, Gale family reunions, picnics in the hayfield, Sunday drives, card parties, and ice skating on the river. Her family loved listening to her candid renditions of her early life in Nebraska, especially the charming story of how she and John got hitched! She was preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, John; and siblings, Manota Tate, Jessie Wobig, and Edson Gale. Ruby is survived by her 5 children, Gordon (Karen) Lord of Great Falls, Virginia (George) Donnelly of Helena, Lynda (Jack) Ravenscroft of Valentine, NE, Phyllis (Bill) Featherston of Sun River, and Larry Lord of Great Falls; her sisters Mabel Adamson, Helen Ford, Wilma Andrews, and Beverly Dodson; her grandchildren, Daren and Shane Lord, Zaneta Riphenburg, Michael Beattie, Shantel Herman, Jess Ravenscroft, Crystal Popken, Kody, Dallas and Travis Featherston, Diana Spicer, Jonathan Lord, and Abigail Stufflebeem; 28 great-grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. A celebration of life for Ruby will take place at 1:00 p.m. Monday, February 7, 2022, at the Ulm Bible Church in Ulm, MT.