Ruth left her parents' farm when she was nineteen, and went north to Kansas City. In Kansas City, she secured a job as a clerk in a clothing store. This was exceedingly hard work with long hours mostly spent standing. Eventually, Ruth married one of the male clerks named Jared Flint. However, this marriage did not last long, because Jared contracted food poisoning from a can of potted meat. In a matter of days, he was dead. A few years later, Ruth married Owen Maguire who worked as trimmer at the Armor meat packing plant in Kansas City.