Ruth Nervik

Ruth Elaine Chalfon Nervik died peacefully at home on September 8, 2014. Graveside services will be held at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, October 18, 2014, at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Fairfield MT. She was born in Franklin, Nebraska on November 16, 1933, to Brainard S. and Edna F. Greenleaf Chalfon. Undaunted by the doctor’s suggestion to leave their baby at the hospital, the Chalfons took their daughter home and raised her to courageously overcome her disabilities and lead a fulfilling life. The family moved to Sand Point, Idaho following the Republican River Flood of 1935. Later they settled west of Fairfield as part of the Greenfields Irrigation Project. With support from her family, Ruth persevered in school, attending Golden Ridge Elementary, Fairfield High School and Bellflower, CA. She graduated from Fairfield High School in 1954. Ruth moved to Los Angeles around 1965 where she met Robert E. Nervik while they were both in the Easter Seals of California training program. They married in 1966. Together they worked in hotel/motel management and later at Kaiser Hospitals where she worked in housekeeping until retirement. After Robert’s death in 1979, Ruth again demonstrated her independent spirit by traveling to Europe, Alaska and eastern US with various tour groups. Ruth retired in 1998 and moved to Great Falls, to be near family. She was a Foster Grandparent at the Childrens Receiving Home for several years. A member of 1st Congregational United Church of Christ Great Falls, she enjoyed spending time with family and friends and was always the first to show up at a function and one of the last to leave. She is remembered for her smile and quiet determination to never to let her challenges keep her from achieving her goals. For her family she was a model of kindness, courage and independence. Ruth is survived by her stepdaughter and her husband, Sharon and James Benton; grandchildren James Jr. and Sharon Reneé and 3 great-grandchildren, all of North Carolina; nieces and nephews Ellen Hoy and Burke Eschler, June Rovero, David and Denise Chalfon; great-grand nieces and nephews Elizabeth Hoy, Evan Hoy, Maria Chalfon, Jonathan Chalfon and Lori Rovero Conway and her husband Shannon Conway. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Robert; and her brother and sister-in-law Richard and Phyllis Chalfon.