Ruth Anne Thorning

Ruth Anne (Greenup) Thorning

Ruth Thorning, 61, nearly-lifelong Bitterroot resident and award-winning journalist, passed away Saturday February 21, 2009 after an arduous 21-month battle with multiple cancers.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 30, 1947, to Lloyd and Ruth Rogers Greenup, Ruth, her parents, and her older brother Lloyd, moved to Hamilton when Ruth was about a year and a half old.
The Greenup family lived in the O'Hare house on South Fourth Street most of Ruth's childhood, across the street from the Hamilton (now Bitterroot) Public Library. The proximity of her house to the library, where she spent much of her free time as a child, no doubt helped mold Ruth's voracious lifelong love of reading and writing.
As a member of the first post-World-War-II "baby boomer" class to test the capacity of the Hamilton School system, Ruth graduated from Hamilton High School in 1965.
Ruth married Harry R. Thorning of Darby, her best friend and lifelong love, in Hamilton on April 15, 1966. The couple spent the early years of their marriage working in the lumber and cattle industry in both the Bitterroot Valley and neighboring Lemhi County, near Salmon, Idaho, always maintaining part of the Thorning homestead as a home base near Darby.
Highly involved in her sons' education - from making piatas for class parties to organizing class plays to reading aloud to her sons at every opportunity - Ruth was a school bus driver for Darby Schools for a number of years.
Ruth began her journalism career as the south-valley "stringer" for the Ravalli Republic in the early 1980's, becoming a fulltime reporter for the Republic in 1980. She was regarded as an expert on county government, law enforcement, and the judicial system.
Ruth served as interim editor of the Republic three times during the late 1980's and early 1990's, a self-educated journalist who trained fledgling college-educated journalists to assume the editorship of the Republic. In 1986, it was Ruth's turn to edit the Republic, a position she held for two years until the paper was sold in 1998. She wrote briefly for the Missoula Independent and the Bitterroot Star and was a substitute teacher throughout the Bitterroot Valley before taking a job as the office Manager of the Big Velvet Elk Ranch. She then became a technical writer for local entrepreneur Jim Olsen, a job which took her across the United States for several years.
An award-winning journalist, Ruth earned more than 50 state and national awards for her news coverage in categories ranging from humorous and serious columns to in-depth coverage of the militia trials, valley growth, environment, and the judicial system. She was twice awarded the prestigious Silver Gavel Award, for outstanding coverage of the Montana judicial system, by the State Bar of Montana.
Throughout the '80's and '90's, readers of the Ravalli Republic could count on articles bearing the "Ruth Thorning" byline as being thoroughly researched, skillfully written, and impeccably accurate. Readers also looked forward to reading Ruth's columns entitled "About the Bitterroot." During her tenure at the Republic, Ruth wrote over 250 columns, mostly humorous vignettes of her real-life experiences as a journalist, wife, mother, and grandmother.
Ruth served on the Ravalli County Planning Board for several years and was involved with the Ravalli County Spay-Neuter Task Force.
In addition to reading, Ruth enjoyed gardening, traveling, attending professional bull-riding (PBR) events with Harry, following her grandchildren's activities, and entertaining her family and friends on Sunday afternoons.
- Ruth was preceded in death by her parents; stepmother Ruth (Taber Applebury) Greenup; a son, Daniel Adam Thorning; and her sister, Karen (Greenup) Hale.
Ruth is survived by husband of nearly 43 years, Harry; two sons: Wayne Thorning of Hamilton and Kevin (Jennifer) Burdette of Corvallis; two daughters: Kodie (Scott) Rasor of Meridian, Idaho, and Kerrie (Kevin) Shulund, of Lolo; grandchildren Shawn and Allanya Thorning; Carmen, Randi, and Sam Burdette; Justin, Kevin, Kaitlyn, and Brandon Rasor; and Hailey and Madelynn Shulund; as well as numerous nephews and nieces and an enormous number of extended family and friends.
She is also survived by a brother Lloyd (Myra) Greenup, Jr., of Hamilton, a sister Kathy (Mike) Daniels of Hamilton; and sisters-in-law Claudia (Larry) Maxwell of Salmon, Idaho, and Karen Palin of Darby.
In lieu of flowers, a scholarship in Ruth's memory, to be awarded to a Darby High School graduate displaying excellence in writing/journalism, has been established at Darby High School. Contributions should be made in Ruth's name, payable to the "Darby High School Scholarship Fund," c/o Joe Yanzick, 209 School Drive, Darby, MT 59829.