Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. A native Floridian, she grew up on a farm in northern Madison County, Florida, and was the second of six children born to Murphy and Doris Everett. After graduating from Madison High School and North Florida Junior College (now North Florida Community College), she transferred to Florida State University, where she earned a Bachelor’s and later a Master’s Degree in English Education. Ruth moved to Titusville, Florida in 1966 to accept her first teaching job and remained there to make it her home and has twelve grandchildren.

After more than thirty years of teaching English, twenty-five of those years at Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College), Ruth retired and is enjoying having more time to read and continue her writing. Over the years she has been a member of several local writing groups, and her poetry and fiction have been published in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. Ruth's first novel, Reparation, was published in 2013 by the Florida Historical Society Press.