Steamboat Pilot & Today

Ruth Dale Duncan Middleton died Nov. 7, 2000, in Pueblo. She was 100.

She was born March 22, 1900, on a farm in Saline County, Kan.

Ruth taught elementary school for five years in Kansas before moving to Burlington in 1924 to teach music and physical education. In 1926, she married Carl G. Duncan, a teacher and administrator.

She spent 24 years teaching in Pueblo County District No. 70 at Avondale, serving as principal of the Avondale Elementary School for 13 years.

Ruth was a past president of the American Legion Auxiliaries and Federated Women's Clubs of Cortez and Oak Creek. She also was past president of the Monday Music Club.

Ruth was an accomplished musician and was an organist for various churches in Colorado Springs from 1965 to 1973. More recently she was an organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pueblo.

Ruth is survived by a daughter, JoAnn Kincaide of Longview, Texas; two sons, Carl Duncan of Littleton and Earl Duncan of Longmont; a sister, Eula Hoover of Pueblo; four step-daughters, Roberta Jean Hanna of Cloquet, Minn., Mary Ray of Arvada, Linda Thompson of Waukesha, Wis. and Betsy Towell of Brookfield, Wis.; 15 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Carl Duncan; a daughter, Lois Collins; a sister, Eleanor O'Dell; and her second husband, Donald S. Middleton.

A funeral service was held Nov. 11 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pueblo. Memorial contributions in Ruth's name may be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church, care of Montgomery Steward Funeral Directors, 1317 N. Main, Pueblo 81003.