Ruth Hart, lifetime Colfax resident, celebrates 95th birthday

Ruth Hart will be 95 years young June 7, where she'll celebrate with a small gathering of family in Colfax, the very town she was born in and has lived for 95 years. Ruth was born to James "Fly" and Helen Watts in 1925, in a small house on Oak Street in downtown Colfax. "Mama and daddy's house is still there," said Ruth, the youngest of three children born to the Wattses. "We lived there for a few years before moving to a nearby house in Colfax." Ruth's father was born in 1898 in Iowa Hill during the gold-mining rush. Ruth's grandfather, John Watts, drove a team and freight wagon to and from Colfax at that time. The elder Watts and his wife, Eleanor, relocated to Colfax when Ruth's father was young. "My daddy went to grammar school in the old wooden school house," said Ruth. "When he was old enough, he entered the Army during World War I." He would meet Ruth's mother, Helen Steinbrenner, on his way to the European theater, in WilkesBarre, Pennsylvania. "Mama got passed a 'note' out the train window with daddy's address," said Ruth. "They wrote back and forth during the war, and he went back east to visit mama when the war was over." According to Ruth, her father sent for Helen to come to Colfax soon after. They were married in Auburn and spent the rest of their life in Colfax, raising their family of five and moving to several different homes. "We lived on Pleasant Street for a lot of years, across from the grammar school, now the community center," said Ruth. After completing grammar school, she started her first year at Placer High School, in Auburn. "I can remember watching the overpass above the railroad tracks being built from my classroom window." While attending high school, she met Earl Hart. "We ran off to Reno, Nevada, on May 3, 1941, with some friends, to elope," said Ruth. "Mama was not happy about that at all – she had a temper." Ruth's mother would forbid the newlyweds from seeing each other until Ruth finished her freshman year of high school. By June, Earl had won over Ruth's parents and they moved into a small 15-foot trailer. Their married life began on the road, traveling from various worksites for Southern Pacific, where Earl worked as a welder and Ruth made their small trailer a home. When Ruth became pregnant with their first child, she returned to her parents' home and Earl took a job at the shipyards in Richmond. Following the birth of two girls and a two-year draft in the Army during World War II, the growing family rented a house at the top of Church Street and Earl went to work with Pacific, Gas and Electric. In 1949, Ruth and Earl purchased a modest new home in Suburban Pines on Fowler Street. "We moved into this house in January 1950," Ruth said from her living room chair in that very house. The birth of their son in 1951 completed their immediate family. Ruth and Earl would go on to have eight grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren (with one on the way). "Earl put in the swings in the backyard and handmade the wooden seats. I think every generation has swung on those swings," Ruth said, looking out at the swings from her kitchen window. "This has always been the gathering place for friends and family, generation to generation." In March 2011, Earl passed away after 69 years of marriage and is buried in the Colfax Cemetery near Ruth and Earl's parents. "Oh, I still get out and walk around the yard," said Ruth, who lives in the home with her son, Jack. "He maintains the yard, I get to enjoy all the flowers." Ruth stays in close contact with her daughters and speaks to them several times a day. To this day, Ruth has regaled her family with incredibly detailed stories of her life in Colfax, often referring to places around town by the families that owned them. She still maintains a close relationship with her best friend from first grade, Katherine Sweat Livingston, speaking to her often. "Colfax is home," said Ruth, the family matriarch. "It has been for years and always will be." Happy 95th Birthday, Ruth Eleanor Watts Hart. You are loved beyond measure by your family and friends. Linda Rudolph is the daughter of Earl and Ruth; Paige Hughes is their granddaughter.