Ruby Evelyn (Chaffee) Haugen
Ruby Evelyn (Chaffee) Haugen peacefully passed "to heaven" April 19, 2005, in Kalispell.
Born July 21, 1922, on an Indiana farm to Sidney Loftus Chaffee and Nannie Keith Miller Nutting, Ruby was one of seven children to survive infancy. She grew up in a house built by John Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., (home of Purdue University.) She survived the hot and humid Indiana summer nights, and the bitterly cold Indiana winters, working hard at farm and home chores, walking a mile one way to school and back.
She was a great basketball player, especially talented at free-throw shooting, and also played softball. She hiked, cross-country skied, and swam throughout her lifetime. She finished at least 14 Bloomsday races. She was still swimming a mile three times per week into her late 70s; this despite surviving polio and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
She enjoyed watching sports too. One of her daughter Becky's earliest memories was her enthusiastic cheering for the Belfair High School teams. She never missed her children's, Nancy and Tim, games, and followed Mead and Whitworth sports for years after they graduated. In her later years she rooted for the Mariners.
Her parents sent her to Wheaton College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible studies. She could read the scriptures in Hebrew and Greek. She returned to West Lafayette and took classes in home economics at Purdue.
She fell in love with an engineering student, John Frederick Haugan, whom she met in Intervarsity Fellowship. They married after his graduation in June, 1949.
John was called to the ministry, so they moved to Oak Park, Ill., where he attended Northern Baptist Seminary. She followed his ministry to Belfair, Spokane and Missoula. She worked full-time as the minister's wife and mother of three lively children. In Missoula she added a part-time job teaching nutrition to food stamp recipients. She could stretch food dollars into wonderful healthy menus. After moving back to Spokane she worked full-time as the administrative assistant for the maintenance department at Whitworth College over 10 years. Students and staff were inspired by her Christian charity and work ethic.
Her sweet soprano voice was in great demand, as part of a sisters trio, then as a soloist. She loved music, as a listener as well as performer. She attended many concerts, and grew to enjoy square dancing and Irish music as well as Christian and classical.
She gave of herself -- to her family, her friends and her church. She shared her love of God's handiwork. She enjoyed feeding and watching birds, growing flowers, and seeing mountain vistas, trees, wildflowers, and waterfalls.
She is survived by her children, Becky Schneider of Kalispell, Nancy Haugan of Eureka and the West Kootenai, and Tim Haugan of Beaver Creek, Ohio; six grandsons, Evan and Jim Schneider, Daniel Levi, Zachary Scott, Isaac William Sturdevant, and John Paul Haugan. She loved her extended family, maintaining close ties with siblings, cousins, and their children.
During her last days she enjoyed warm spring weather and panoramic views in West Kootenai, hearing and watching mountain bluebirds, meadowlarks, swallows, elk, deer and wild turkeys from her rocking chair on the deck. She shared her wit, wisdom, and warm sense of humor with her family as she slowly faded from their lives.
Please honor her memory through donations to Spokane Valley Baptist Church, Holman Gardens Foundation, West Kootenai Mission Church, or another charity of your choice.
Celebrations will be held at 4 p.m. today, April 22, at 220 Turkey Track Drive, off West Kootenai Road; and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at Spokane Valley Baptist Church.
Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family.