Ruth Richmond Bronson Burcham, 91

Longtime Eureka resident and business woman Ruth Richmond Bronson Burcham, 91, died Wednesday, June 13, 2007, at Heritage Place in Kalispell. Born at Newark, Ill., to Lyle Richmond and Pearl (Green) Richmond on March 29, 1916, she came to Montana with her family in the late 1920s where they settled at Olney.

Ruth married Norman Bronson, also of Olney, in 1932; they were married until his death in 1971. The couple had three children, Eleanor, Charles and Fred. The family moved to Eureka in the late 1930s where Ruth had been a longtime employee of the Eureka Mercantile and later owned and operated Eureka Floral from 1974 until retiring in 1980.

Ruth married John 'Ted' Burcham in 1975 and they moved to the Kalispell area in 1996.

Ruth enjoyed drawing, painting, gardening and crocheting and was an excellent cook. She was a devoted mother and grandmother to 10 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Norman Bronson and Ted Burcham; daughter, Eleanor Bronson; and son, Charles Bronson; sister, Vivian Perry; and brothers, Everett and Wayne Richmond.

Survivors include her son, Fred Bronson; brother, Randall Richmond; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren; as well as nieces and nephews.

Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Tobacco Valley Cemetery in Eureka with the Rev. Pattiann Bennett officiating. Friends may call at Nelson & Vial Funeral Home in Eureka from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.