Nation's oldest park ranger
Ruterbories is the National Park Service's oldest ranger at age 93. He and his wife Marge managed the campground since 1991, and Ruterbories has continued on his own since her death in 2005.
For 20 years, he has been the ambassador, manager, accountant, anthropologist, botanist, historian, traffic cop, landscaper, handyman and rules enforcer of Kintla Lake. He still hauls gravel, mends fences and wields a chain saw to clear fallen trees from the road to the most remote encampment a visitor can drive to in Glacier National Park.
Recently, Ruterbories has struggled with a knee injury that threatens to end his ranger career. An operation could fix it, but he's worried about recovering from surgery at his age. If he doesn't go through with it, retirement is likely.
By the time this week's U.S. government shutdown closed Glacier, Ruterbories had already left the park - perhaps for the year, perhaps for good. After the Labor Day weekend crowds departed, he went about his annual ritual of shutting down Kintla Lake.
He knew this time may be the last. But if he felt a pang of remorse at the prospect of leaving the paradise he and his wife made for themselves, he didn't show it. His main concern is taking extra care in cleaning the little red cabin in case a new ranger is there next summer.
"I don't like to leave a mess for anybody," he said.
