MARCH 28, 1929 – FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Ruth Navarre “Nickie” Scott Them was born in the Bronx, New York City, on March 28, 1929.

Nickie died with great courage and joy in Baker City, Oregon, on Feb. 6, 2023, after a long life filled with much laughter and adventure, close friendships and the ever-present love of her husband, Walt, four daughters, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Nickie will always be remembered for her direct honesty, her wit and her winning smile.

Nickie grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, the first-born child of Cliff and Ruth Watson Scott.

Nickie was raised by her parents and grandparents.

She was particularly close to her maternal grandmother, Georgia Belyea Watson, “Grandma Geordie,” whose strong faith and character both awed and inspired her.

Her grandfather, Robert Watson, was a well-known Presbyterian minister in New York.

Her paternal grandparents, James and Dora Scott, were also in residence.

At age seven, Nickie’s sister, Dorothy Belyea Scott, was born, and the two were quickly fast friends, often pranking their father at bedtime, so delighted were they in each other’s company.

At 17, she entered Bates College in Maine and earned her undergraduate degree, before moving out West to Missoula, Montana, to earn her Master’s in Zoology.

It was there she met Walt Them, a returning GI, and “chased him until he caught her.”

They shared a love of the great outdoors and spent their honeymoon on horseback in Glacier National Park, one in a long succession of merry adventures, hunting and fishing all over the West and Alaska.

They always kept a hunting dog or two, and Nickie always said dogs increase the dimension of joy in life.

Walt and Nickie’s enthusiasm for life – for people, education, this Earth – inspired everyone they met.

In 1954, they bought the old Orn place in McCall, with a leaky roof, no indoor plumbing and a wood cookstove.

The place afforded them many opportunities for redesign and remodeling, which they engaged with their typical verve.

Nickie taught science at the local high school until her first pregnancy began to show, at which point she was relieved of her position so as not to trouble her young charges with a changing figure.

Walt took over teaching science at the local high school, and Carolyn Ruth was born in April of 1954, to be joined by Catherine Navarre in March of 1956, Dorothy Christine in August of 1958, and Margaret Elizabeth in September of 1962.

Incredibly, right amid the civil rights movement, Walt had an opportunity to further his career in Montgomery, Alabama.

Nickie consistently prioritized supporting her husband, and the family packed up and traveled across the country, camping along the way.

They lived for 10 months in the deep South, providing a fascinating challenge to learn and grow – just the sort of thing Nickie valued and enjoyed.

It was a time of deepening political understanding for the entire family.

Returning home to McCall was a joyous event for all.

As Nickie’s children grew older, with the cost of college educations looming, she began to take positions in town.

First, she was a bank teller, then a loan officer at a local bank.

She was CFO and CDM of the small dairy she and Walt operated for a couple of years.

When they moved to Southern Idaho, she worked for Central District Health and as an enumerator for the Census Bureau.

When they moved to Alaska, she taught Anatomy and Physiology to nursing students at the community college on Kodiak and became a real estate agent in Kenai.

When Walt retired, so did she, and they returned to their home and friends in McCall.

During their retirement, they traveled widely on Uncles Sam’s dime in Europe, in Asia, in the South Seas and in Central and South America.

They returned several times to New Zealand and Australia, where they investigated deer farming.

Nickie was captivated by Japanese floats and began her collection on the beaches of Alaska but found her most treasured float on the beaches of Okinawa.

Back home in Idaho, Nickie and Walt bought an orchard in Mann Creek, primarily to enhance bird hunting, but also to harvest the fruit. Nickie enjoyed going to a warmer clime to work with her husband on those 10 acres.

Being civically minded, both Nickie and Walt were deeply engaged in their community.

Nickie sang in the Community Congregational Church choir from the very beginning of their life in McCall and over the years held every office in the church, sometimes twice!

Nickie learned to sew right alongside her daughters in 4-H, becoming an accomplished seamstress.

The girls had 4-H projects every year, in livestock as well as home economics, and she lent her support to every endeavor.

Nickie was active in Eastern Star, Walt was a Mason, and the girls were all Jobies.

Nickie and Walt were both avid Bridge players, playing with friends regularly.

As time passed, Nickie’s Bridge club became a dear social connection and support to her, as she was to them.

Nickie and Walt raised their girls within a strong community of friends, particularly the Dr. A.E. and Marg Pflug family, the Dr. Herald and Donna Nokes family, the Mr. Leroy and Emmy Whitman family, and the Mr. Hank and Joyce Knowles family.

These friendships weathered the years with grace and gratitude.

The family had many pets, some of unusual stripe, snakes, armadillos and canaries, to mention a few.

Much time was spent on horseback, up in the mountains ringing McCall, as each member of the family had their own horse.

Nickie took her girls swimming in the lake, out huckleberry picking and hunting for mushrooms, down to the Salmon for an early taste of spring, over to friends’ houses for a sauna and consistently supported their education, touting and demonstrating the value of a bright and curious intellect.

She could be counted on to keep the home fires burning as well.

She was careful to nourish her family, wild game usually on the dinner table, and encouraged her girls to be physically fit.

She would say, “You have a strong body and a good mind – make use of them!”

Nickie and Walt both knew the song “Bluebird of Happiness” before they met, and it became their enduring theme song.

They also lifted a phrase from Johnny Mercer’s popular song, Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-between, for use as a family motto.

Nickie raised her girls on Broadway musicals such as “The Sound of Music,” “Mary Poppins,” “My Fair Lady” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

In this way, she imbued her daughters with confidence in a positive view of life.

She knew love was most important, and this knowledge only deepened with time.

Her Christian faith was the cornerstone of her life.

She was committed to uplifting others in each encounter and prayed for others in her private moments with God.

Nickie’s zest for life was contagious.

She delighted everyone with her observations, warmth, sense of humor and grace.

She will always have a loving place in the hearts of her sister Dottie Fox and her niblings Cheryle, Chester and Terrance; her daughters Carolyn, Catrinca, Dori, and Meg; her sons-in-law Robert, Tracy, Jeff and Brian; the Pflug children, Anne, Dave, Linda, John and Mary; her grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and her dear friends.

As a science educator, Nickie would have been thrilled to know her body was accepted by the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland for scientific studies, as this had been her wish.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Community Congregational Church in McCall at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 10.

A luncheon will follow in the fellowship hall.

In lieu of flowers, Nickie requested donations be given to the Community Congregational Church.