The book of Ruth

Ruth Iversen enjoys reading about others. She’s usually reading a historical book, with a good detective story thrown in on occasion, and recently read Jimmy Carter’s autobiography.

“I like biographies, but his was exceptional,” she says of the former president, who died at the end of 2024 at 100 years old.

Still, Iversen’s not convinced there’s something to write about when it comes to her own life.

“I can’t imagine there’s anything interesting,” she says.

But from the day she was born on Sept. 26, 1920 – near a creek along the road, somewhere between Colorado and Minnesota, during one of her family’s moves by horse and wagon – to today, the 104-year-old has lived a life worth knowing about.

“I have been so blessed,” she says.

This is the book of Ruth – the abbreviated version, of course.

TIRED OF MOVING
“Oh, I said my dad was a gypsy, but, of course, he wasn’t,” Iversen says, recalling her family’s many moves during her youth.

After high school and a few years of college, Iversen started teaching in a rural school in Wisconsin before her 19th birthday.

“I had all eight grades, and I had, oh, I had wonderful students,” she says.

Her first teaching job earned $80 a month. She was the teacher and the janitor, though the students helped bring wood inside for the furnace and cleaned chalkboards in the evening.

She also taught English at the School for the Deaf in Flint, Mich., and at a Cherokee Nation tribal school in Oklahoma.

“I loved it,” she says. “I did go back 50 years after the kids had graduated and had the best time. They had me come back, and I had three days – queen for the day, really.”

In 1946, a young Ruth and her husband, Iver Iversen, whom she met at Dana College in Nebraska, returned to his hometown of Sidney, Mont., after his U.S. Army service during World War II. They moved into Iver’s parents’ home on the family farmstead, where Ruth continues to live today.

“I told him I was so tired of moving,” Ruth says. “Well, I’ve been in this house since 1946.”

Ruth’s home already had running water and electricity when she moved in, thanks to the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and the resumption of rural electrification, which was paused during World War II. The Iversen farm has been served by Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Cooperative since the lights first came on, and Ruth has been a member of the co-op, which serves members in North Dakota and Montana, for nearly 80 years.

“I do remember we got one hanging light bulb in each room. We didn’t have anything to plug in, so you didn’t need any outlets,” Ruth says. “Can you imagine never having a thing to plug in?”

“When I had Mr. Jackson out to rewire when we were doing work in the house, he just grumbled and grumbled, because I expected him to put in all these outlets. He thought it was too many, but, oh, I’ve used them!” she says.

Together, Ruth and Iver operated the family farm, where they raised beets, corn, registered Angus cattle and their four children. The couple was married nearly 59 years. Iver died in 2004 at the age of 93. Her advice for a lasting marriage?

“Never go to bed angry,” she says. “We made that decision before we were married, and some nights it was awful hard to keep. And I know some days he would have sent me down the road and he might even have given me a little money to get rid of me! … But no, we made it, and, oh, he was, I couldn’t have had a better man.”

“He wasn’t supposed to die first, because I didn’t think I could make it without him, but here I am,” Ruth says.
 

SO MANY PROJECTS
With her children raised and since retiring from her last job (she drove beet truck until age 70!), Ruth has found more time for her hobbies, passion projects and reading.

“I’ve always read. Always. And this is why I’m enjoying my evenings, because I am so blessed. I can go to bed at night and read. You know, you can’t do that when you’re working,” she says.

“I’ve learned everything from books,” Ruth says. “That’s what books do. They get you where you want to go.”

Books taught Ruth how to sew, quilt, embroider and crochet. She quilts every Tuesday at her local church in Sidney, Mont., Pella Lutheran, making quilts for local needs and people around the world, through the Lutheran World Relief quilting program. The quilts are also displayed on the church pews, and local students get to choose a quilt as a graduation gift.

“But I didn’t start quilting until my kids were gone,” Ruth says, estimating she’s completed thousands of quilts in her lifetime.

Ruth also spends time on the computer, emailing and keeping in touch with family, treasured friends and former students.
“I was 80 years old when I went to Glendive to learn about a computer. I drove up for a week, because they had lessons. At that stage, most adults didn’t know what was going on,” she says.

This summer, Ruth will be busy gardening in her raised beds, tending to her vegetables and late mother-in-law’s peonies, which have been on the farm longer than Ruth.

“I love the outside. To me, watching plants develop and grow is such a miracle,” she says.

And, she’ll still be mowing her yard, which takes her three-and-a-half hours to complete.

“My son was over here (recently). His job is to keep my lawnmower in shape. So, he sharpened the blades, and he put new filters in, changed the oil and ready to go,” Ruth says.

She still drives, cooks and bakes, too. Ruth maintains an old box of tried-and-true recipes, many of which were clipped from magazines years ago, including the “5 Star Buns” she makes with whole wheat flour and always has in her freezer, from a 1960 issue of Farm Journal.

Ruth shares two recipes with North Dakota Living readers this month. Her in-season rhubarb pie is a beautiful shade of red and cinnamon warmth. She also shares her version of a homemade hot pocket, one of Ruth’s breakfast staples, which she found in a 2003 issue of Country Woman magazine.

“I do try to eat nutritiously,” Ruth says. “I guess I’ve always tried to do the best I could. We’ve had a lot of fresh vegetables, and small portions.”

 
AS RARE AS RUTH
Living to 104 years old is rare, but living independently at 104 – as Ruth does – is astonishing. She’s broken a hip. Twice. She’s beaten cancer. Twice.

What’s the key to a long life?

If her life can be a recipe to follow, Ruth’s secret ingredients appear to be a strong faith, good humor, lifelong learning and remembering to count the blessings.

“I think if you have friends, you have a blessing that won’t quit,” she says. “I just feel so blessed that people will be my friends.”

Or maybe what matters is not living a long life, but a good one.

“What kind of world are we in when we have to keep people living and we don’t know when God’s going to call them or why he doesn’t call us? I have a lot of questions, for sure, but I have also seen a lot of miracles,” Ruth says. “I’ve had a lot of noes in my life to prayers, but … I know you can have a miracle. You can have a ‘no.’ You can have a ‘later on.’ You don’t always get the same answer, but you have to accept it.”

Like a good book you don’t want to put down and never want to end, so is the book of Ruth.

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Cally Peterson is editor of North Dakota Living. She can be reached at cpeterson@ndarec.com.