Ruth "Ruthie" A. Weber

We are saying a sad good-bye to one of Nampa’s institutions, Ruthie Weber, who died unexpectedly on April 22, 2019, at St Al’s Medical Center in Nampa, Idaho.

Ruth Annette Croft was born on February 1, 1936 in Pasco, Washington, to Charles and Hazel Croft and grew up in San Jose and Palo Alto, California. Her father was a minister, and she was a model pastor’s kid except for the time she and her friend threw all the hymnals out the window and got into a bit of trouble. In Campbell High School and Palo Alto High School, Ruthie played the cello in the orchestras and was often heard playing boogie-woogie on the piano. Music was in the forefront of her life. In Nampa you may have been the recipient of one of her ukulele tributes. She honored people with little songs she wrote in appreciation for kind acts. Ruthie graduated from Pasadena Nazarene College in 1957 where she was voted “Most Outstanding Junior Girl” and served as Vice-President of the Student Body. In 1960 she married the dashing Hal Weber who walked into the Palo Alto Nazarene Church on
Sunday morning while Ruthie was playing the piano. Luckily, her mother Hazel was the quickest mother of the single girls to invite him to Sunday dinner. They’ve been together since then. They settled in Palo Alto where they had three exceptional children, Lori, Sallie, and Thomas. Ruthie taught at Roosevelt School in Nampa and Ross Elementary in Kuna. She loved her students, and they loved her. In addition to the 3 R’s, her students learned tons of silly songs, My Hat it has Three Corners, We Are Factory Workers and on and on. 1999, after Hal retired as VP of Business at NNU, Hal and Ruthie spent a year at Africa Nazarene University in Kenya. Hal served as Vice-Chancellor of the university, and Ruthie taught music to students. She said, “I thought I was bringing music to Africa, but they brought music to me.” They could not read music, however, so she had students lined up to learn. She learned how to pronounce every name and remembered where they came from. She has kept in touch with many students, and when the end of their tenure came, she wanted to stay. Ruthie was the pianist for the Grace Notes Senior Choir at College Church for 19 years. There aren’t many 80 year-olds who still have the rhythm and quick fingers to pull it off. Ruthie loved her Tuesday Morning prayer group and her monthly book club. Several have already asked, “Who will recommend books for me now?” She had great taste in literary fiction. Ruthie was always the sparkly one in the room. She made everyone she met feel like her best friend. She is the poster woman for those who practice random acts of kindness. She loved her God, her church, her family, her friends and total strangers. She directed the bell choir at College Church, played keyboard for the Living Christmas Tree, taught the young couples Sunday School Class, and ministered to people in a thousand ways. Her smile was contagious and defined her spirit. When Ruthie collapsed in her home on Friday, the world seemed to stop for her family and everyone who knew her. Ruthie Weber, you have left the world a better place.

Ruthie is survived by her husband, Hal Weber; her daughter and son-in-law, Lori and Kelly Bolen, Eagle, ID; her daughter, Sallie Weber, Salt Lake City, Utah; her son, Thomas Weber, Boise; her sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer and Dick Sohn, Holland, MI; her grand-daughter and husband, Alex and Michael Henricus, her grand-son Tony Bolen, her grand-nephew Michael Boyd and his wife Kristy, and his daughters and their children, Annabelle and Lily.

A Celebration of Life Service for Ruth will be held at College Church of the Nazarene, 504 E. Dewey Ave in Nampa at 3:00 PM on Saturday, April 27, 2019. There will be a time of visitation and a viewing at the Nampa Funeral Home, Yraguen Chapel, 415 12th Ave. So. on Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. An online guest book and the complete obituary are available at www.nampafuneralhome.com

                The family suggest that memorial contributions be made to the Hazel Croft Memorial Scholarship Fund at Northwest Nazarene University, 623 So. University Blvd., Nampa, Idaho 83686.

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