Ruthann Knudson Obituary

Ruthann Knudson

Great Falls - Ruthann Knudson, an educator, author, consultant, manager, and community activist, died on Sunday, March 25, 2018 of a stroke at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. Ruthann resided for many years in Great Falls, Montana. Her remains were donated, per her wishes, to the medical school at the University of Washington. Future interment will be in Duluth, Minnesota.

Ruthann was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Sidney and Clara(Tappe)Knudson on October 24, 1941. She spent much of her youth in Duluth, Minnesota and graduated as Valedictorian of her Denfeld High School class. She continued her education at Hamline University, University of Minnesota (Phi Beta Kappa), University of Idaho, and earned a Ph.D in anthropology at Washington State University. As a young girl Ruthann read every one of Zane Grey's western novels. During summers in college she worked as a salad cook and seasonal ranger in Mesa Verde, Yellowstone National Park, and Bandelier National Monument where she became interested in native American history and culture. Her university studies and most of her subsequent work centered on Plains Indian archeology and anthropology. Her career began as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Northern Colorado, Wright State University, and Washington State University. Later she was an Assistant Professor at the University of Idaho where she managed the Laboratory of Anthropology. In the 80's she was VP/Senior Project Scientist at Woodward-Clyde Consultants in San Francisco. Ruthann worked as an Archeologist for the National Park Service in Washington DC and then was Superintendent of Agate Fossil Beds National Monument for 10 years. She semi-retired and moved to Great Falls where she remained active in research and education through her Knudson Associates consulting business. Her recent activities included Executive Director of the Friends of the Museum of the Plains Indians, teaching on-line courses at Great Falls College/Montana State University, and serving on the Upper Missouri River Heritage Area Planning Board and the Great Falls/Cascade County Historic Preservation Commission. She was a speaker on Montana Indians through the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau. She continued to participate in various research and education projects at the national, state and local levels. Ruthann was an expert at flint-knapping and provided many wonderfully detailed illustrations for research studies. She was recognized professionally through a number of honors and awards including the prestigious Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association.

Ruthann was very active at the First United Methodist Church of Great Falls. Her special interests were in the Family Promise program and the community holiday meals prepared for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and July 4th. She also ushered, taught adult Sunshine Sunday School class, and served on the Board of Trustees. Her service will be missed by many. Ruthann loved gardening and flowers, jigsaw puzzles, cooking, vegetable and fruit canning. Romance novels and needlepoint consumed the little spare time she had.

Ruthann is survived by her brother Knute (Sandi) Knudson of Grand Junction, CO, and her niece Kelly (Marc Lazzareschi) Knudson and their daughters Laurel and Quinn of Lafayette, CA.

Any memorial contributions may be given to First United Methodist Church, 610 2nd Ave. North, Great Falls, MT, 59401.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Great Falls Tribune on Apr. 12, 2018.

Memories and Condolences
for Ruthann Knudson

8 Entries

Timothy Jones

June 10, 2019

I have known Ruthann since the mid 1970s. She was a great mentor and friend. She was always encouraging and helped me both professionally and emotionally. I will miss her greatly.

Maynard Fosberg and Anita Falen by the UI-Maynard Fosberg monoiith collection 6/18.

Anita Falen

March 24, 2019

I met Ruth Ann Knudsen while I worked at the University of Idaho, from as early as 1970 and contact off/on until fall of 2017. I worked in the Pedology Laboratory and was helping her get information on some monoliths collected and in the Fosberg Monolith Collection at University of Idaho. I had sent her soil descriptions and monolith cards as she was working on another publication. I was busy in the spring of 2018 cleaning out 50-years of soil archives and I remembered I had not heard from her. I did soil analysis for several projects that Ruth Ann worked on throughout the Northwest. I had kept the information for monolith cards available after I was forced to retire so we could get things finished. I have several archeology reports she collaborated on or did using soil data I ran in the UI-Pedology Laboratory. I am very sad to find that she has left this world way too soon. I was trying to find her address to invite her to Maynard Fosberg's 100th birthday in July. We had chatted several times by email and on FACEBOOK. I know she would have come and had a great time talking with all the acquaintances she had made over the years. I feel like I knew her well and I will certainly miss not talking to her. Sounds like she had her life fulfilled by her donation to the University of Washington. What an awesome lady to have known and she will be remembered forever. They do not make them like Ruth Ann any more.

Julia P. Ames

November 8, 2018

I met Ruthann through my parents Leo and Lela Ames when all of us were early members of the NOW (National Organization of Women) chapter at the University of Idaho in the early '70s. I kept in touch on and off over the years. She was the one who taught me to honor myself (after my divorce) by giving myself roses. Last year I reconnected with her after having not been in touch for many years. She lent a painting by my father to hang in three exhibitions I had organized of his work. She drove all the way to Twin Falls for the opening of one such exhibition at the gallery at CSI on May 23, 2017, where I was able to happily see her again. I have been trying to contact her this year to return the painting, only now discovering that sadly she has left us. I'm so glad I was able to see her again last year! She made a deep impression on my life.

Jennifer Woodcock

October 26, 2018

I don't remember not knowing Ruthann - she was one of a handful of women archaeologists among my family's friends who served as important role models for me - I am very sorry to learn of her passing, and I will really miss her. I was so head-down finishing my PhD this spring that I missed hearing, I just found out through her obituary in "Archaeology in Montana." I really appreciated her kindness and moral support when I moved back to Montana; she was not only an excellent archaeologist, but also a really decent human being.

Warren Carah

August 14, 2018

I was a new graduate student at WSU in 1970 when I first met Ruthann and will never forget her words of encouragement and her guidance through the academic maze. She gave me a new perspective on what Anthropology could be about and certainly helped me broaden my horizons. I eventually went into engineering, but I will always remember her insights into understanding different cultures.

WSU-'72

Jeanne Moe

April 20, 2018

I met Ruthann in 1978 and I knew that my life would be different. Until I met Ruthann, I had no female role models in archaeology. As a new employee at the University of Idaho Laboratory of Anthropology and future graduate student, I knew I had a strong role model, an intellectual equal, and an advocate. She was all of these and much more. In 1979, she assigned me to be the field director of a long distance transmission line project and my career took off from there. Over the years she has become a good friend too. I remember some great parties including Thanksgiving at her house in Moscow and a trip to southern Idaho to inspect the power line project and to make some decisions about some of the impacted sites.

In 2011 I saw Ruthann at the SAAs in Sacramento. She asked me as she always did, Have you finished that dissertation yet? Finally, I could answer, Yes, I did. It was accepted by the Graduate School on Monday. Thats good, she said. You finally finished your education. The next week when I got home from the conference, she sent me a dozen red roses. No one has ever sent me a dozen red roses. Thanks for everything, Ruthann. I will really miss you.

Peter White

April 17, 2018

I have known Ruthann as an archaeologist since the late 1960s, when she edited the Newsletter of Lithic Technology. We met at a Pan-Pacific Scince Congress in 1975 and kept in intermittent touch since then. Myself an archaeologist, I was constantly impressed not only by the scope of her work, but the meticulous order with which she kept her records. She was a model to the profession, and I am very sad both personally and professionally to lose her. A great lady.

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