Obituary: Dr. Ruth Carver Pike

Dr. Ruth Carver Pike

Dr. Ruth Carver Pike

Dr. Ruth Carver Pike often told family and friends, "One of these days I'm going to fly away," and on Nov. 19, 2018, at age 105, while in residence at the Arizona Pioneer's Home (where the sound of her clarinet playing often echoed through the halls), she did.

On April 19, 1913, she was born the youngest of four siblings to Roy and Blanch Tilden. Roy was a veterinarian in Blair Nebraska, so animals factored importantly in her early years, and for all her life, she always had a dog at her heels.

She attended school in Blain, Nebraska, marrying Albert Carver after high school graduation. The Carvers lived in Boulder, Colorado, where, a few years after their daughter was born, the marriage dissolved and Ruth returned to Blair.

During WWII, she worked as a life guard and a time keeper in a munitions plant. After the war, she taught grade school before attending Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa.

In 1950, she brought her asthmatic daughter to Prescott, setting up her Chiropractic practice at the corner of Gurley St. and Miller Valley Rd., in the historic Tony Johns home. In 1952, she married Jeff Elliot Pike.

Ruth was interested in everything that came her way and tackled every challenge with gusto. She became accomplished at everything she set her mind to. And in her first 100 years, she set her mind to almost anything you can think of from needlepoint to one of a kind Teddy bears, making furniture to plumbing and wiring an entire house, from painting and sculpting, to playing the organ, composing music, and singing with the Sweet Adelines. On her beloved mare, Creampuff, with a little hatchet in hand, she blazed riding trails through the dense brush Southwest of Prescott. (Now called "those old Indian trails.")

She was predeceased by her husband and dear companion, Jeff Pike; her grandsons, John and James Knapp; and her great-granddaughter, Wendy Knapp. She is survived by her daughter, Linda Green (Sam); her granddaughter, Lori Ulibarri; and her grandson, Michael Green (Paula), all of Prescott. She leaves seven great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

Mom brought the lure of adventure, a world of knowledge, the joy of laughter, and limitless unconditional love into our lives and she will always be sorely missed.

A graveside memorial will be held at a later date at Pioneer Cemetery.

Information provided by survivors.


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