By Ginger Maddox
Chinook
When your birthday happens
to fall on a national holiday it
can be either a good thing or a
not so good thing. Ruth
Buhmann’s birthday falls on
June 14, Flag Day, but she’s
always enjoyed having flags flying
on her birthday. This year
she will be celebrating her 105th
birthday.
Born in 1901 in Jonesville,
Mich., Ruth Burrene Sprague
was the youngest of five children
born to Benjamin and Elizabeth
Sprague. She grew up in
Litchfield, Mich., and remembers
the first time she saw an
automobile. She was about 6 or 7
at the time, and they heard the
car coming down the road. They
all ran out and stood along the
side of the road and watched in
awe as a little red car that was
driven by moving, what looked
like a long stick, passed by.
Ruth was 9 years old and in
the fourth grade when the family
moved to Oregon. They thought
they were moving to a place that
was 30 acres, had an orchard
and a house. When they arrived,
they found there was no house,
so her dad and her brother built
a house for the family to live in.
Ruth and her sister, Kit, drove a
horse and buggy four and a half
miles to attend school in
Hermiston. The year that Ruth
graduated from the eighth grade,
Kit graduated from high school,
and during her high school
years, Ruth rode the horse to
school. She still has the “split
skirt” that her mother made for
her to wear over her dress so she
could ride astride the horse. She
would pull the skirt on over the
top of her dress skirt, ride to
school, take the riding skirt off,
and then repeat the process
when she rode home after
school. Ruth graduated from
Hermiston High School in the
spring of 1920. She still has her
eighth-grade graduation dress
and her high school graduation
dress, both made for her by her
mother.
In September of 1920, Ruth
married Reinhart Buhmann, her
high school sweetheart. Their
first home
was in
Colfax,
Wash.,
where
Reinhart
worked in a
machine
shop. When
an opening
came up
with the
Hermiston
Power &
Light Co., Reinhart was hired to
run the town’s power plant and
they moved back to Hermiston.
They had two sons, Robert Ray
“Bob” born in 1922 and Ivan
Gene born in 1924. Reinhart
passed away in 1929 following
goiter surgery. As a single mother,
Ruth found work in a grocery
store, then in a variety store.
Her mother-in-law took care of
the boys while Ruth was at work.
It was a difficult time, but she
was determined to keep her sons
with her.
In 1930, Ruth married
Reinhart’s older brother,
Lawrence. Shortly after the marriage,
they moved to the eastern
part of Montana where Lawrence
expanded his bee business. They
located along the Missouri River
south of Glasgow and for the
first few years they lived in a log
cabin that belonged to someone
else. When he wasn’t working
with the bees, Lawrence worked
in a neighbor’s sawmill and cut
the timbers for a house that he
built himself. Ruth worked
beside Lawrence when he was
working the bees, and they traded
some of the honey they gathered
for supplies and sold the
rest for cash income. Through
their hard work, their business
grew and began to prosper.
Their daughter, Ilene, was
born in 1932 in Glasgow. From
then on, they had a hired man to
help Lawrence with the bees.
Ruth has many, many memories
of the years they lived along the
Missouri River, many are fond
memories, but there’s also a few
that aren’t (especially being
forced to leave their home
behind.)
When the Fort Peck Dam was
completed, everyone living along
the river was told they would
have to move as their property
would be covered with water. In
1937, everyone living in that area
was forced to move. That was
when Lawrence and Ruth moved
their bee business to the small
town of Zurich. The business
continued to grow and flourish
and became one of the best in
the state. The Buhmann Apiary
that was built in 1958 was one of
the biggest and finest, and their
reputation for top-quality honey
is known far and wide.
In 1939, Ruth and Lawrence’s
youngest child, a daughter they
named Nancy, was born. Ruth
was kept plenty busy as a mother
and wife. She also helped
when needed at the apiary,
cooked for the men they hired,
raised the large garden and
canned the produce. She was a
member of the U-Go-I-Go Club
that met once a month. You can
ask any of the women who were
members and you will learn
what a very active group of
ladies they were.
In 1983, Lawrence and Ruth
sold the business to Bob and
moved to a home a few miles
west of Chinook. Lawrence was
84 and Ruth was 82 when they
moved. They didn’t want to live
in town and they continued to
raise a sizeable garden and
maintain the yard and house
themselves. Ruth says they’re
tired because Lawrence was
“tired” and she was “retired.”
When Lawrence passed away
in February of 2002, he was just
one month short of turning 103.
Ruth continues to live in their
home and gets by with minimal
help. She misses being able to
tend a garden and do her housework,
but acknowledges she is
grateful to be able to still live at
home. Her quick wit and sense of
humor make her a delight to
visit with, and her wonderful
memory of things that have happened
throughout her lifetime
makes her a great source of historical
information. She has
observed an infinite number of
changes through the years, many
good and some bad. She has
some difficulty hearing in a large
crowd, but enjoys visits with
friends and family one on one or
in small groups.
When asked what their secret
to long life is, Ruth smiles and
says they never had a “secret.”
Neither of them ever smoked or
drank and that might be a factor,
but she’s pretty sure that the
hard work and well balanced diet
that included a bit of honey
had a lot to do with her being so
active long past the age when
many folks have slowed way
down.
