Ruth Boyd

Ruth Boyd died in Portland, Oregon at her home on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. She was 92. Born Ruth Payne, she was raised in Algona, Iowa. Her parents, Wilbur and Marie, raised four girls. Ruth was the third. After high school Ruth attended nurses training, first in Mason City and later in Sioux City. After completing her training she applied to be a nurse in the U. S. Army, at the beginning of World War II, and was accepted to become an Air Evacuation Nurse. During training in California she met James and they were married in Algona in 1944, before they were sent to separate stations. Both were part of the Army Air Corps with Jim in England and Ruth in India. As a lieutenant in the Army she was stationed in north eastern India where wounded service members were flown from Burma where combat operations were occurring between the Allied forces and the Japanese. Injured soldiers were delivered to her hospital in North Eastern India where Ruth provided care both in the hospital and as they were flown to larger hospitals in Western and Southern India in airplanes nicknamed Gooney Birds. Following World War II she and Jim moved to Gardena, California where she had two sons, William and Michael. In 1950 her husband reentered the Army and the family was stationed throughout the United States. They lived in Washington State, Milwaukee and, for a time while Jim was in Alaska, back in Algona. In 1957 the family moved to Landstuhl, Germany where Ruth and Jim adopted Irene now known as Ahmia. The family returned to the United States and lived in San Antonio, Texas until Jim retired in 1963, and settled in Cherokee, Iowa. In Cherokee, Ruth was active with Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and worked part time at Sioux Valley Memorial Hospital, as well as developing many friendships. Jim retired from the Mental Health Institute in 1978 and they moved to St. Helens, Oregon. In St. Helens Ruth attended St. Frederic Catholic Church. In 1995 she moved into Portland to be near her son, Bill. She was living at St. Andrews Care Center in Southeast Portland when she died. Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Jim and parents, as well as her sisters Alice, and Eleanor. She is survived by her sister Norma, her sons and daughter, seven grand children and seven great-grand children. A memorial service was held at St. Andrew Care Center and a further remembrance is being planned for August. Memorial contributions are encouraged to World Vision, which she was a long time supporter of.

Ruth Boyd

February 1, 1918 - July 6, 2010