Edith Ruth Armson

I am not afraid of tomorrow,
for I have seen yesterday and I love today.

Edith Ruth Armson was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on August 20, 1933, and was raised with her siblings (Hugh, Earl, Renie, Betty) on a farm in the Rignold District. Because they were all so close in age they worked, played, and attended school together. In their teens they played ball, went to barn dances, socials, picnics and fairs together.

Ruth graduated when she was sixteen, and with one year of teacher training, began her career on her eighteenth birthday in a one-room country school on the Delta Road north of Portage la Prairie.

Her first few years of teaching were so exciting—full of new experiences in education and a great time socially.

There were a lot of new teachers (including Ruth) around Portage la Prairie; they knew each other from High School and Normal School and kept in touch. They worked very hard at their teaching jobs during the week and then Ruth stated that they would meet on Saturday nights at some prearranged place and go dancing, or to a party. Very few of them had cars so they had to arrange transportation to and from their homes or boarding places. 

During the first summer holidays, Ruth remarked, many of the same group met again at Gimli on the shores of Lake Winnipeg for a summer course toward their permanent certificates. This turned into a memorable time of beach parties, dances in the pavilion in the park, and a lot of sports.

At the end of Ruth’s first two years of teaching, her family, with the exception of her older brother, Hugh, went to Melfort, Saskatchewan, for a holiday with relatives. On the way home, a drunk driver hit the family car head-on on an S-curve. Ruth’s father was killed and the rest of the family all had injuries from serious to mild. Ruth spent the next year in and out of the hospital and had to have a silver plate attached to her femur. The next fall she went back to teaching wearing a brace.

Then her brother Hugh was killed when a bus slipped on the icy road and hit his car killing him instantly.

Ruth said, “Teaching was my calling and I loved it as much when I retired 47 years later as I did when I began.”

She taught in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, BC, NWT and Yukon. She also remarked, “I  always believed that to be a teacher you must, above all, love children, love what you do and do it well.” As well as teaching the program of studies, she also did many extra-curricular activities: simulated archaeological digs, yearbook, student newspaper, student council, drama club, creative drama and camps. In the early days in remote areas, this also involved organizing dances and baseball.

The following is a tribute by a former student, Ulrike Wohlfarth Levins:

Ruth’s twin passions of teaching and travelling have impacted the lives of thousands of students over the years.  She opened their eyes and souls to exploration of both literature and the world outside their own city or town.  Stories from her extensive travels were often woven into her teaching of new genres of English. She was loved and respected for her exciting, always fresh, approaches to instilling excellence in writing and a love of reading, history and geography in her students. Some continue to be friends of hers over fifty years later!

Ruth’s love for teaching stretches into her ‘80s. She continues to tutor several students a year. The Writing Group for Seniors she founded and has facilitated for over ten years is sought-after and well-attended by her former peers and students. They look forward each fall to her newly-created curriculum to challenge them to new and broader heights in creative writing, sometimes even combined with artistic talents!

Ruth went on to attain her B.A. and B.Ed. degrees receiving the Second Year Arts Award. During her career she received a number of awards: two National Hilroy Fellowships for educational innovations, a National Grass Roots Computer Award for the development of a Social Studies web page, Yukon Excellence in Teaching Award, the Commissioner’s Award and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, YTA Alice Elston Award for “meritorious service to the Association, the teaching profession and education,” and the 2015 Governor-General’s Award for Volunteers, and the volunteer award at the Arts Center. She is a charter member of Pioneer Women of the Yukon Society. Also, all of her adult life she has supported a foster child abroad.

Another passion was travelling the globe. Her fascination for anthropology, archaeology, geology and ancient histories became the focus of much of her travels.

Over the years, she visited such places as: the pyramids, the Greek temples, the historical places of the Bible in Israel and Turkey, Machu Pichu, Terra Cotta warriors of Ancient China, area of the fabled Druids and King Arthur, the Masai of the Serengeti, the sites of the Norsemen in Iceland and Greenland, L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, indigenous groups in Canada, the glories of Leningrad, Ayres Rock, Olduvai Gorge, the home of Aborigine and Maori folklore, the Medieval and Renaissance sites and artifacts of Europe, the incredible birdlife of Costa Rica, and the Cuban culture.

She also flew around the world by private jet visiting ten countries, sailed through the Northwest Passage as well as the inside passage of the Antarctic Peninsula. Two memorable events were meeting Pope John Paul and visiting the prison on Robbin Island.

Upon retirement, one of her first projects was going to space camp in Florida. She was co-founder of the Yukon Retired Teachers Alumni (YRTA) and its first president. Ruth implemented the Mentorship Program for Beginning Teachers and was the facilitator for three years, and also introduced a Writing Circle for Seniors, which she still facilitates. Ruth has also been an usher at the Arts Center for many years and is a member of a card-making group. Throughout her retirement, she continues to tutor children.

Another passion is family and knowing your roots. Ruth wrote her own autobiography and researched three family trees: Armson, Ferguson, Poston. She visits with family, sees what they are up to via Facebook, and has travelled at times with my niece, Debbie, and occasionally with her great-niece, Kearra.

Ruth loves to read, listen to French tapes, go to movies, cross-country ski in her younger years, make photo books on the Internet, go to lunch, go for walks with friends, travel in the North with her friend Irene, and drops in frequently to visit with friends. She wrote an autobiography for a senior and is presently working on another one, co-authored a booklet on early French pioneers, and has had several articles published. She also likes to cook, knit, crochet, embroider, make cards, tat, do crafts, and attend church.

A quotation that Ruth loves is:

To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
- Micah 6:8