Ruth E. Barnard, 100, of Tri-Cities, Washington, died on Sunday, March 11, 2017 at Brookdale Meadow Springs. Ruth was the 5th child of six, born to JB and Lena Franklin in 1916. There were 5 girls and 1 boy. The Franklin girls had long lives. Their mother, Lena lived to just 3 weeks short of 102, sisters Marian and Ruth reached 100. Ruth is the last of the Franklins. JB & Lena Franklin homesteaded north of Saco, Montana. Their farm was next to the Huntley place, and they all went to school in the little Huntley school up to 6th grade. Chet Huntley was a classmate (remember Huntley and Brinkley news reports?) The sisters and brother helped each other in order to get their starts in life. After graduating as an RN from nurses training at Deaconess Hospital in Great Falls in 1937, she worked a year to pay them back. She married Don Barnard in 1938 and their marriage lasted 73 years. They lived in Williston, ND and had 4 children – Nancy, James (died following his birth), Allen and Wayne. Mom and Dad both did a lot of volunteer work in Williston and they traveled all around the country. Mom worked as a special duty nurse. In the first oil boom of 1951, there were some awful fires on the oil rigs, and she was a nurse on those cases. Several times she accompanied patients by air to hospitals in Fargo and Minneapolis. I was impressed, since I know that Mom was scared to fly. After settling in Pasco in 1968, they started dancing at the Senior Center. They danced for about 30 years, never missing a dance if they could manage to be there. Dad took up wine-making. Every day at 5, Mom would stand on the back step and call Dad, "PTW" (pour the wine and they would each have exactly 4 ounces. They used the code so the neighbors wouldn't think they were a bunch of drunks. Ruth is survived by their 3 children, Nancy Berry (husband John), Allen Barnard (wife Andra), and Wayne Barnard (wife Esther Ebey). Her husband, Don passed away in 2011 at the age of 95. There are 6 grandchildren; Sarah Schneider, Les Walling, David Walling, Alana LaBissoniere, Aaron Barnard, and Robin Mitchell and 16 great grandchildren. There are also 2 great-great grandchildren. It's the end of a long period in our families, a very good time. The memorial service will be at Crossroads Bible Church in Kennewick on Saturday, March 18 at 2:00 pm.