Mary (Coyne) Ruis

Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister, Mary Edna (Coyne) Ruis, passed away from complications of lung cancer June 15, 2009.

Part-time resident of San Diego. Calif., and Columbia Falls, she was born April 10, 1939, in Kewanee, Ill., to Neil and Helen Coyne and moved to El Cajon, Calif., in 1950.

Mary was a homemaker and a retiree from the Cajon Valley Union School District. She was a special education classroom assistant at the Rios Elementary School and was a constant at her grandchildren's many events from watching horse racing, wrestling, soccer and softball to being at their school performances. Mary made every grandchild feel important.

Everyone loved the holidays at Grandma's house as she loved to decorate her house for every holiday. Oh, how she loved Montana winters.

Mary loved feeding the deer and wild turkey in her back yard in Montana, Heritage Days and rodeos were some of her favorite events of the year. She even partook in the "Boogie to the Bank." She was loved by many in Columbia Falls.

Mary is survived by her husband Alvin M. "Sunny" Ruis Sr.; daughters Kathleen Keltesch and Mary Olivo; sons Alvin "Mick" Ruis Jr. and David Ruis; brothers John and Thomas Coyne; 19 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.