Ruth Ann (McKay) Bullen

Ruth Ann (McKay) Bullen passed away peacefully on August 3, 2025, at the age of 83 in Thornton, CO. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, to Grady and Laura E (Cogger) McKay on May 7, 1942, Ruth graduated from East Grand Rapids High School in 1960. In 1964, she completed her Bachelor of Science in microbiology at Western Michigan University.

Her first job after graduating from college was as a laboratory assistant for Dr. Harold Sadoff at the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She also worked as a medical technologist at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, when she met her husband, Rex Elbert Bullen, of Mason, Michigan. They married in Grand Rapids on June 1, 1968.

Before she met her husband, she bought her first horse, Lancelot, from a racetrack in Canada. She worked hard to train Lancelot from being a racehorse to a show jumper. At one point, she jumped fences as high as 8 feet tall with him before she decided that was high enough for her. She also took him fox hunting once, where they got into trouble for outrunning the hunt master. She then got Rex hooked on horseback riding too.

Together, Ruth and Rex established horseback riding schools first in Mason, where Ruth offered lessons for handicapped children, and then later in Ada, Michigan. When their two children were young, the family closed the horseback riding school in Ada and moved to a small farm in Saranac, Michigan. There, Ruth worked as the medical technologist for clinical practices in Lowell and Saranac and shared her love of horseback riding with her children. She was a well known 4H leader and traveled to many places for horse shows with her daughter.

Dogs were also recipients of Ruth’s love for animals, and it was in Saranac that breeding of Scottish Terriers was added to Ruth’s expertise. After moving to Colorado in 2018, she adopted a rescue dog from Sunshine Canyon Dog Rescue.

After their children graduated from Saranac High School, Ruth and Rex moved to Rockland, Michigan. She worked as a pharmacy technician at Shopko Pharmacy in Houghton, MI and then as a laboratory technician at Ontonagon Memorial Hospital. Later, Ruth got her real estate license and worked at a real estate office in L’anse, MI. After a few years, she, along with her husband established Crossroads Great Lakes and Land real estate business in Bruce Crossing, Michigan and enjoyed crafting and attending auctions in her leisure time.

Ruth was an intelligent, honest, straight-forward, hard-working woman as well as a talented knitter and craftswoman. Love was never in short supply, whether it was for her husband, her children, her horses, or her dogs. Her caring nature led her to always be available to help friends and family members in any way she could. Ruth will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

Ruth is preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Rex. She is survived by her son, Mark F Bullen (Erie, CO),her daughter, Laura E Bullen (Alexandria, VA), her sister Kathy Wege (Sedona, AZ), her brothers Rob McKay (Scotsdale, AZ) and Rick McKay (Knoxville, TN) as well as several nieces, nephews, and friends.

A celebration of Ruth’s life will be scheduled at a later date. To remember Ruth and her love of animals, please donate to Sunshine Canyon Dog Rescue at https://www.sunshinecanyondogrescue.org/donate.html