Stan Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 A med tech, mom and volunteer Judy Ammundsen, smart and energetic, started out by changing her name and never really stopped Wednesday, May 25, 2005 AMY MARTINEZ STARKE As a child, she was known as Ruby, but one day someone called Ruby and little sister Pearl "two little jewels." Ruby Anderson was a tomboy who ran barefoot through the Minnesota swamps, third daughter of a Norwegian dirt farmer. She used onion tops for straws. scared off lynxes while bringing home the cows and made tepees out of birch bark. She didn't consider herself a jewel. After that, she went by Judy, from her middle name, Judith Marie. She started first grade, the only girl in the class, speaking Norwegian with a little Swedish thrown in. Her family moved West, and Judy graduated from Wenatchee (Wash.) High School in 1934, an honor student with a love of chemistry. She was baptized a Seventh-day Adventist as a teen and attended Walla Walla College, hoping to become a doctor. But she didn't have the money, so her chemistry instructor suggested she go to Portland Adventist Sanitarium at Southeast 60th Avenue and Belmont Street to become a medical technologist. Judy did that work for about 50 years. When computers came in, Judy said, "I've done this long enough." She finally retired from Providence Medical Center -- she had once been the day-shift hematology department head -- after 35 years, around age 80. Then she helped the science teacher at Portland Adventist Academy. She died at 89, on May 11, 2005, of Alzheimer's. She boarded with Robert Ammundsen's family when she was a student. Robert was also a Seventh-day Adventist and of Norwegian ancestry, but he was laid-back, while Judy went and went and went and expected other people to, as well. They married in 1938. Judy took just a little time out to get married and have two daughters. Robert worked for a milk delivery company, logged, drove a school bus, did repair work, painted, finished high school when his daughter did, enjoyed playing with his children and was content. About 1957, Judy started working for Providence -- their home on Northeast Hoyt Street was where the parking structure is now. She sometimes took night calls, went to college to finish up her bachelor's degree, and worked a couple of part-time jobs at a lab and another hospital. When Providence expanded, Judy and Robert bought property in Gresham and moved their entire house to the property. Judy attended Gresham Seventh-day Adventist Church for more than 25 years. She taught children at Sabbath School. She did volunteer work at an Adventist hospital on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and helped with clothing donations. In 1986, she and Robert, who died in 1992, went to Norway for two weeks to visit their ancestral homes. She made Norwegian fattigmand and krumkake and sandbakkles and lefse, but lived on coffee and hot chocolate and ginger snaps. She read her Bible and romance novels -- nothing too explicit. Reading was OK, but she wasn't much for sitting. TV? A waste of time. She had no patience with people who weren't productive. She asked what her children had accomplished. She was a little more lenient with her grandchildren. She took in any stray cat that wandered by -- too many, actually. She gardened in her flower bed -- hydrangeas, daylilies, honeysuckle, roses and lilacs. Even late at night, there was Judy, out there planting by flashlight. Quote If you receive benefit to being here please help out with expenses. https://www.paypal.me/clubadventist Administrator of a few websites like https://adventistdating.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cricket Posted May 25, 2005 Share Posted May 25, 2005 Thank you for sharing this Stan. Although I've never heard of Mrs. Ammundsen before, she is truly a woman I will look forward to meeting in heaven. What a life story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators LynnDel Posted May 25, 2005 Moderators Share Posted May 25, 2005 I'm not sure if I know her family. Did she have any children? LD Quote LD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Naomi Posted May 29, 2005 Administrators Share Posted May 29, 2005 What a lady ... what a life's story! She was a living which can inspire many, but few can live up to. Quote If your dreams are not big enough to scare you, they are not big enough for God Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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