Ruth Ellen Tinker, 85, of Cathlamet, died in Longview on May 8, 2023.

Ruth was born in Spokane on September 4,1937 to Lowel and Hazel Lunneborg. She graduated from Central Valley High School and Deaconess Hospital Nursing School. She played the violin with the Spokane Philharmonic Orchestra and loved music.

She worked in several clinics and hospitals including Director of Nursing at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue for 18 years. Later she moved to Long Beach and was Nursing Director of Ocean View Care Center for five years and Ocean Beach Hospital in Ilwaco for eight years. While there she helped write the curriculum for the state CNA Program.

In 1990 she and her husband Larry moved to Hawaii and she worked in several nursing facilities there before she retired in 2003. In 2018 Larry died and she moved to Cathlamet to live with her family. Ruth loved gardening, camping and reading. Her family remembers her life in Hawaii as her happiest time. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Teresa and Gary Howell, two sons, William Roney (Bonnie) and Michael Roney (Carlita), four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. A Celebration of Ruth's life will be held at a later date. Dowling Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.