Alma Ruth Cloyd

ALMA RUTH (FEHR) CLOYD Alma Ruth (Fehr) Cloyd, 98, of Livingston, died at Livingston Health and Rehabilitation Center with her daughter by her side, early Sunday morning, August 11, 2013. Cremation has taken place at Franzen-Davis Crematory and a celebration of Ruth's life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, August 16 at Franzen-Davis Funeral Home, 118 No. 3rd St., with Sandy Williams, Livingston HealthCare Hospice Chaplain officiating. Graveside committal and burial will follow in Mountain View Cemetery. Ruth was born February 27, 1915 in Hebron, North Dakota, one of eleven children of Jacob and Sophia (Gessle) Fehr. She moved with her family to Missoula, Mont. where she met Wesley Cloyd, a young funeral director. They were married on July 12, 1937 and lived for two years on his family's ranch near Belgrade, Mont. They then purchased their first funeral home in Fort Benton, Mont. where they lived for the next seven years. During this time they developed a love for high school basketball and attended all of the Ft. Benton team's basketball games. In 1947 they purchased the Pemberton Funeral Home in Livingston, where they made their home. They continued their pursuit of high school basketball, purchasing reserved seating and following the Park County High School Rangers' games both at home and out of town. In 1948 they adopted twin children, Renay and Randy, which proved to be quite a new experience for Ruth, as she had never been around babies. They hired a nurse to help her out for two weeks. In 1961 Ruth and Wesley divorced. Ruth never remarried. As an accomplished seamstress, Ruth did alterations for the Jet Cleaners, and would remake Wesley's suits and shirts into clothes for Renay and Randy. For many years she also made draperies with Rose Bartholomew. Ruth worked as a barmaid for the Owl Lounge, and later acquired the Owl and worked there as a bartender. Ruth loved to travel and for a period of over 30 years she took week-long trips with her sisters on an annual basis, going somewhere different every year. She visited Hawaii a number of times and traveled to Europe with her sister-in-law, Beryl Cloyd. Ruth was preceded in death by her parents, four brothers, three sisters, and her former husband, Wesley. Survivors include her daughter, Renay (Jim) Matthews of Livingston; two grandchildren, Mike (Ellen) Wangsmo and their two sons, Paul and Ben of Tomball, Tex., and Karin Wangsmo of Chandler, Ariz.; her brother, Harry (Lola) Fehr of Greely, Colo.; and two sisters, Lillian Vinson of Redmond, Ore. and Marillyn Bennett of Portland, Ore. She is also survived by Randy Cloyd and his family. Ruth's family would like to thank Livingston Health and Rehabilitation Center for the excellent care they gave Ruth for the four years that she was a resident there, and thanks to Livingston HealthCare Hospice for the care they provided in the final months of her life. If so desired memorials may be directed to Stafford Animal Shelter, 3 Boulder Business Park Road, Livingston, MT 59047.