People I Admire, Ruth and John Kuehl
Ruth, a realtor, showed me around when I was house-hunting in Oregon. At one residence, we suddenly found ourselves locked in the back yard, surrounded by an eight- foot high wooden fence, built of tightly joined planks. I’d climb the solid wood gate, reach over and unhook the latch, then despair as the gate swung shut and locked every time I climbed down. Ruth’s wonderful laugh, which spreads the good medicine of laughter everywhere she goes, finally roused a neighbor who rescued the two of us. That’s when I decided Ruth was an uninhibited joyful, zany, unpredictable treasure for a friend. 

We play Scrabble often and John, highly intelligent, regularly invents new words with his tiles, adding to our game-time hilarity. We’ve never before known such a delightful couple.
Ruth, who bills herself as the ‘Cow Lady’ (mooo-ving people is her business—she says, “ Cowll Ruth for real-estate needs), grew up in Butte, Montana, along with Eveil Kneivel.
John teases that Ruth needed citizenship papers when she emigrated from Butte to the rest of the US, implying that Butte is a foreign city, and strange people leave there.
John and Ruth lead a small group fellowship, part of our alive mega-church. Bob and I co-host the group. We enjoy these small group parts of a large church, as a way to grow into close friendship.