98-YEAR-OLD NOT BOWLED OVER BY LIFE, TEACHING ITS GAMES.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

NEWHALL -- Many women shave off a few years when asked their age. It's hard to believe Ruth Johnston when she tells the truth.

Johnston could pass for 73, but Friday she'll be 99. The spry blue-eyed nonagenarian will soon be teaching a lawn bowling class to the young 'uns in her retirement community.

``She's an inspiration. She's taught me what it's all about in every way,'' said Gwen Grissom, a close friend, who is 73. ``She and I just clicked.''

The two share a passion for golf and the savvy Johnston readied her pal for the rigors of friendly competition.

``She taught me the fundamentals of golf before I joined the women's club so when I went there I would know the etiquette of the sport,'' said Grissom, who's played for nine years. ``You can know the rules but you can make an ass out of yourself without the etiquette.''

A bank of windows in Johnston's home frames a distant mountain range and the seventh hole of the Friendly Valley Country Club golf course. In 40 years, only one errant ball has shattered a window -- but the rest of her life hasn't always been so calm.

Born in 1908 on a farm in the tiny burg of Cook, Neb., the lively talker, who gestures often, has outlived two husbands, three siblings and her only child.

Her bookshelves, crammed with photo albums and crowned by a sea of smiling framed faces -- many long gone -- belie Johnston's forward-looking gaze.

``My theory is, I try to keep myself interested in everything going on around me,'' she said. ``You can't live on memories, you have to go by tomorrow -- you have to make new friends or life wouldn't be worth living.''

Johnston should know; she also has outlived most of her friends.

After finishing high school at 17, Johnston taught pupils in a one-room country schoolhouse but had to quit in 1927 when she married. State law back then prohibited married women from working because unemployment was so severe, she said.

She met the dapper Lefty Tyree at a 10-cents-a-dance pavilion and they married three years later. He was sickly, so the couple ditched the frigid prairie winters in 1942 for the warmth of the San Fernando Valley. After she retired from a 30-year career at Rocketdyne, they were among the first to purchase homes in the retirement community in Newhall.

They embraced the club's social whirl of golf, lawn bowling, ballroom dancing, square-dancing and theater.

Tyree died from heart failure in 1980, but Johnston believes she prolonged his life with vitamin regimens, a practice she credits with fueling her vitality to this day.

The following year, she married Ray Johnston, six years her junior. He was a big-time history buff who steered the couple's two decades of domestic motor home trips to remarkable sites, both majestic and mundane. He died from cancer in 2001.

A year later, Ruth's beloved daughter Arlene Exley died suddenly from liver cancer at 72, after having been diagnosed only five weeks earlier.

``I can imagine anything in the world, but not losing a daughter,'' Grissom said. ``She just deals with it like she deals with life, wonderfully.'' The two have been friends for roughly eight years.

Arlene's youngest daughter, Diane Moldafsky, 49, said her mom and grandmother were best friends.

``My grandma shared everything with her. She always got comfort from my mom,'' she said. ``(Ruth) is a tower of strength. I think she faced so much hardship early in life, she takes whatever's thrown her way and doesn't feel sorry for herself.''

Johnston, the second of four children, had a brother and two sisters. The buggy ride to the nearest town took an hour and the kids studied their lessons by the light of a kerosene lamp.

``Getting by was a family effort,'' Moldafsky said. Johnston worked as a telephone operator an hour and a half before and after her high school classes and three hours after, earning 10 cents an hour.

Her three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren don't live nearby, but take turns visiting.

Johnston sports glasses only for reading; she lives alone and does her own shopping and cooking. Her vivid oil paintings, another pastime, keep her company. Floral still lifes enliven the den and rugged coastal and woodsy landscapes animate the living room.

``I think everything you do has an art (to it),'' she said.

Suzanne Harris, 73, a friend for 15 years, admires Johnston's artful approach to life.

``Watching how well she's done over the past years and never really complaining ... When you have a down day and see how well she's doing and how hard she tries, it makes me feel how important it is not to give up,'' Harris said.

Grissom, her golden retriever Katy in tow, stops by each day to say hi and plans to celebrate No. 99 with her friend. Johnston remains a social member of the golf club, which feted her at a recent event; the lawn bowlers gave her a commemorative photo album.

Ned Shafer, who turns 95 on Wednesday and has known Johnston for about 27 years, says she's as sharp as ever.

``She is a very, very astute person, always willing to get up and speak extemporaneously (when we're) honoring someone here,'' he said. ``She always has something nice to say about people.''

For 20 years, Johnston was a devoted lawn bowler and taught the sport for seven years. She's caught the bug again, much to the delight of her cohorts.

Bruce Hoitt, who heads the private lawn bowlers club, said the Johnstons taught him the moves 10 years ago.

``She is really astounding, amazing,'' he said. ``She's certainly been very interested, gracious and energetic all her life ... She's with it all the way.''

Among the many clubs Johnston has led over the years, her four-year presidency of the Bowlettes, the women's lawn bowling club, may be among her favorites.

``It's the most skillful game devised by man,'' Johnston said. ``It's a challenging sport that will last a lifetime.''

She should know.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Friendly Valley's Ruth Johnston, who turns 99 on Friday, has won a few lawn bowling trophies in her years on the greens.

(2 -- ran in SAC edition only) Ruth Johnston of Newhall, who turns 99 on Friday, attributes her health to exercise and vitamins.

David Crane/Staff Photographer