Ruth Shields

In memory of....
Ruth Jeanette Ginter Shields, who died July 30, 2014, in a traffic accident north of Durango with her dog, Gypsy. The oldest of three girls, Ruth was born May 1, 1925, in Custer, South Dakota, to Paul L. Ginter and Cora M. (Baske) Ginter. Her father worked for the U.S. Forest Service. The family moved to Colorado in 1929 and was stationed in Monte Vista, Pueblo, and Fort Collins.
Ruth attended Colorado A & M in Fort Collins and was the third female to graduate with a B.S. degree from the forestry department after being discouraged from pursuing a degree in chemistry. Ruth wanted to work as a pilot ferrying planes during WWII or as a fire tower lookout spotter near Walden, Colorado. Her parents denied her requests. She worked for the college agronomy farm for four years helping with wheat, barley, and corn genetic research. Ruth also worked for the Girl Scouts as a camp counselor and director at Flying G Ranch near Byers, Colorado and was known as Ginger to her Girl Scout friends. She was excited to have canoed in the Boundary Waters with these friends. She also worked as a ranch hand driving cattle and mending fences, and on a hay crew. She was especially proud to have run a stacker and dump rake and to have finished a green broke horse.
Ruth met Chester A. Shields, also a forestry student from Durango, through the college rifle club. Following a romance of duck hunting and other outdoor activities, they were married November 21, 1948. They moved to Happy Jack, Arizona, where Chet began his thirty-one year career with the Forest Service. They were later stationed at ranger stations in Mountainair, Taos, and Penasco, New Mexico, where their two sons Patrick and Paul were born. After spending a year in Boston, where Chester earned a master's degree in public administration from Harvard, the family moved to Durango. They purchased a brand new home on Rio Vista Circle. Daughter, Diane, was born shortly after moving to the Denver area in 1959. Ruth volunteered with the Girl Scouts and the Campfire Boys and Girls Club at this time.
The family moved to Springfield, Virginia, in 1963 when Chester was transferred to the Forest Service National Headquarters in Washington DC. Ruth was a den mother for her sons' Cub Scout packs and helped coach their Little League baseball teams. She was a soccer coach for the fledgling Annandale Boy's Club. Ruth later petitioned this organization to start a girls soccer program in 1967 and was one of the first coaches. In 1974, she was one of the first coaches with the Washington Area Girls Soccer League, a league that today numbers over 650 teams. She coached her daughter's soccer team for a tour of West Germany in 1977, the first US girls team to play in that country.
Ruth was an Outdoor Leader Trainer for the Girl Scouts teaching classes in basic camping, backpacking, and winter camping skills and led Girl Scout backpacking trips into wilderness areas near Estes Park, Colorado and on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Ruth was active with Volunteer in the Parks, a program for schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, adopting parks to establish nature trails. Ruth was also an instructor for the American Red Cross teaching first aid and water safety classes.
Ruth taught a class on useful and edible wild plants class for the USDA Graduate School in Washington DC for several years. Ruth also taught classes in campfire cooking and orienteering for the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Summits in New York, North Carolina and Colorado.
The Shields family retired to Durango in 1978. Ruth and Chet reunited with their love of competitive rifle, silhouette and cowboy shooting at the Durango Gun Club. She went by the name of Ruthless and was an inspiration to the younger shooters. They belonged to the San Juan Basin Archaeology Club and volunteered on digs and site survey crews for the BLM and Forest Service. Ruth played on numerous flag football, soccer, volleyball, basketball and softball teams. She was still vying for pitcher or first baseman positions at the age of 72. She also had a surprisingly accurate underhand chest basketball shot. Ruth volunteered at the Durango Arts Center to help set up art exhibits. She was quite convincing in her portrayal of Olga Little as part of the AAUW Women of the San Juan presentation.
Ruth possessed a season pass at Purgatory Ski Area for many years, but limited herself to Nordic skiing the past few years. She enjoyed fly fishing and tying her own flies. She also kept a beehive for many years.
After the death of her husband from Parkinson's in 2000, Ruth continued being active with Elderhostel adventures-sailing and crewing on a tall ship in the Puget Sound, silversmithing, woodwork carving, Native American pottery and watercolor painting classes in New Mexico, house boating on Lake Powell and canoeing on the Green River in Utah. She joined Gudy Gaskill on a hiking adventure with the Colorado Mountain Club in Norway. Ruth was proud to watch and cheer her granddaughters, Megan and Caitlin at their Nordic ski races and to watch granddaughter Alison play soccer for Colorado Christian University.
Ever the scientist, Ruth kept a daily weather record for the past 36 years. Ruth enjoyed debating topics with a longtime Durango Discussion Group and with the Great Ideas group at the Durango library. In May she enjoyed a reunion with a Forest Service Retirees group in Quemado, New Mexico with her daughter. Although she didn't bring her fishing pole this year, she was proud to be camping in her tent and first one up for campfire coffee. She thought that next year at 90 years old, she would treat herself to a new cot.
Ruth lived her entire life with a dog by her side. She was excited about her first pound hound, Gypsy, adopted from the Humane Society last October. Ruth could be seen being led by Gypsy for their daily two mile walk wearing one of her many baseball caps with a feather tucked in the side.
Ruth is survived by her two sons, Patrick of Canon City, Paul of Durango, her daughter Diane Cassidy and her husband Colin of Durango; three granddaughters, Alison Shields McCoy and her husband Seth of Wheatridge, Megan Fretz and her husband Caley of Boulder, and Caitlin Cassidy of San Francisco. She is also survived by two sisters; Eileen Lorraine Holden of Fair Oaks, California and Fay March of Grand Rapids, Michigan along with several cousins, nieces and nephews.
Cremation has occurred and her ashes will be scattered in the mountains that she loved. 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
La Plata County Humane Society 1111 S Camino del Rio Durango, CO 81303
San Juan Mtn Association 15 Burnett Court Durango, CO 81301
National Museum of Forest Service History PO Box 2772 Missoula, MT 59806