Ruth Ann Colson

Colson, Ruth Ann MADISON-Ruth Ann Colson, of Madison, died on Aug. 16, 2014, at her home, from complications arising from a 12-year battle with a fatal lung-and-heart disease. She was 60 years old. Ruth was born at Madison General Hospital on March 25, 1954, to Marjorie Elizabeth Brian Colson and John Calvin Colson. Ruth spent her childhood in the Waunona Way neighborhood, along the southern edge of Lake Monona, attending Franklin Elementary School on Lakeside Drive. In 1966 the family moved to suburban Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C., where Ruth’s father had taken a position as a professor of library sciences at the University of Maryland, and where Ruth attended school in the towns of Beltsville, Greenbelt and later at Parkdale High School in Riverdale. The family moved overseas to Wales, in the United Kingdom, in 1970, where Ruth’s father taught for a year at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, then returned to Maryland at the end of the year. A free-spirited young woman of the 1960s and 1970s, Ruth opted out of high school before graduating. She lived in several locales around Maryland and worked at various jobs until, in the late 1970s, she moved back to Madison to be closer to her mother, who earlier had returned to Madison. In Madison, Ruth worked for about two decades as a bus driver, driving school buses and long-distance charters for Badger Bus and then for VanGalder Bus and Coach of Janesville. During that time, she earned her High School Equivalency Diploma and attended the UW-Madison, earning a degree in education and ultimately going to work as a teacher in the Madison Public Schools. In 2002, she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, an invariably fatal disease that attacks the lungs and the heart. Under the care of doctors at the UW-Hospital Pulmonary Clinic, she went to San Diego, California in 2003 where surgeons attempted a radical technique to rid her lungs of the scar tissue brought on by the disease, but the attempt failed. Returning to Madison, Ruth lived a somewhat diminished but still vibrant life at her home on the near West Side. When the disease forced her to use oxygen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, she had to quit teaching and driving school buses. But she carried on with her life without complaint and developed passions in a variety of pursuits, including cooking, genealogical research and opposition to Wisconsin’s increasingly right-wing state government. Her political persuasions culminated in a deep dislike for the policies of Gov. Scott Walker and his political supporters. Ruth is survived by her brothers, John and his wife, Anne of Carbondale, Colo. and Stuart of Madison; her aunt and uncle, Martha and Harold Fager of Monona; her aunt, Vera Gouker; several cousins in South Bend, Ind.; and a close-knit group of neighbors, and numerous cousins and friends spread around the United States. Ruth was preceded in death by both parents. A celebration of Ruth’s life will be announced at a later date. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com. Gunderson East Funeral & Cremation Care 5203 Monona Drive (608)221-5420