Ruth Messenger

Ruth Eleanor Messenger, 94, of Nampa, Idaho, passed away September 7, 2010 at the Nampa Care Center. Funeral services for Ruth will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home. Burial will follow services at Riverside Cemetery. Visitation for Ruth will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, September 16th at The Mitchell Family Funeral Home where her family will be present to greet friends. Memorial contributions may be directed in Ruths name to her family. For further information or to send a condolence please visit www.mitchellfh.com or call (641) 844-1234. Ruth was born in Marshalltown, Iowa on December 2, 1915 to Godfrey Johannes Johnson and Marquiretta (Margaret) May Lampman Johnson. Ruth graduated from Marshalltown High School and worked in the Marshall County Court House prior to her marriage to Allen Mendenhall in 1936. Allen was a farmer and they farmed on several farms in Iowa and Illinois. They had five children: John (Judy) Mendenhall of Nampa, Idaho, Carol (Robert) Shaper of Marshalltown, Eleanor (Steve) Ullrich of Hempstead, Texas, Allen Dave (Sharon) Mendenhall of Fort Collins, Colorado and Robert Mike of Cottonwood, Arizona. Her husband, Allen, died in a farming accident in 1944 and Ruth moved with her family to the Marshalltown area as she had extended family in the area. In 1946 Ruth remarried to Donald E. Johnston (a widower with 6 children) and they made their home in Marshalltown. In 1950 they moved to acreage south of Marshalltown. Ruth worked in the County Clerks office as First Deputy Clerk for 22 years. Donald passed away in 1961 on a fishing trip in Minnesota. She retired and moved to the central Arizona area known as Verde Valley. She lived in Camp Verde and Cottonwood, Arizona. Ruth met and married Warren Messenger in 1988 and they resided in Cottonwood, Arizona until December of 2006, when they moved to Nampa, Idaho. Warren passed away in August of 2008.