Prevent Finder from opening all folders in list view every time I open finder in list view, it opens (twirls down) all subfolders; how can i stop this?
Delete the invisible .DS_Store file in that folder to reset the default views. 
(You may need to turn on show invisible files or search invisible files in Finder help to see that control file.)

Finder should remember your changes, but once corrupt, sometimes you can't get changes to save to the store file.