She was born April 22, 1902, at Lewiston to John (Jack) and Lily M. Peer Blewett. She grew up on a ranch west of Gifford, Idaho, the eldest of 14 children. She graduated from Culdesac High School in 1922 and received a teaching certificate from Lewis-Clark Normal School at Lewiston.

She taught at the Flat Iron School and then the Blewett School, which was attended by her younger siblings.

She married Harry Ruddell Jan. 22, 1927. He died March 23, 1970.

They lived on a farm at Pomeroy until 1931, then on Cottonwood Creek east of Lewiston. After retiring from farming in 1952, they moved to Culdesac, where she taught from 1956 to 1958. She then returned to school and received a bachelor's degree in education in 1963 from the University of Idaho at Moscow.

She taught at Pierce from 1961 to 1963, at Woodland near Kamiah until 1967 and at Kamiah High School in 1967-68.

They then moved to Lewiston. She was a resident of the Clarkston Care Center at the time of her death.

She was a member of the Rebekah Lodge, Women's Christian Temperance Union, Grange, PTA, World War I Auxiliary, Idaho Retired Teachers Association and the Cottonwood Creek Community Church.

She enjoyed traveling.

Survivors include two daughters, Berneta (Jo) Russell of Clarkston and Roberta Bonnalie of Lewiston; four sons, Richard (Del) Ruddell of Pierce, Ronald R. Ruddell of Lewiston, Larry Ruddell of Cle Elum, Wash., and Terry Ruddell of Kailua, Hawaii; four sisters, Janet White of Lewiston, June Stegner of Clarkston, Arla Geidl of Lenore, and Mable Lindsey of Pasadena, Calif.; two brothers, Aaron Blewett and Rex Blewett, both of Riverside, Calif.; 20 grandchildren; 57 great-grandchildren; and seven great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by seven brothers and sisters, a grandchild and three great-grandchildren.