Ruth Pont Paxton was born on September 9, 1916, the first child of Elzie Pont and Christina Mae Hahn Pont. She was born at home in Marple, Nebraska. Marple was not a town, it was the home of the postmistress! She eventually had three brothers, John, Albert, and Howard, and one sister, Christina.
Ruth was the oldest of the 5 Pont children. Christina was born when Ruth was 21, so she grew up almost as an only child.
Ruth got her glasses in second grade – she had been unable to learn to read well because the lines all ran together. She was a bit farsighted and had astigmatism!
When it came time for her to go to high school, she knew she couldn’t afford college and she didn’t want to be a secretary, so she took the normal school courses to prepare for a teaching certificate. When she graduated from Alliance High School in 1935, she took the teacher’s exam, passed and got her first 3-year elementary school certificate.
For the school year of 1935-36 she taught at District 46’s country school, grades 1-8 all subjects, and boarded with her uncle Levi Hahn. They paid her $700 for the year.
She then continued to teach in country schools in Sheridan County from 1936-39.
In one school she got the position because she was the only candidate who could both ride a horse and drive a jeep. The family boarding the teacher that year had a little boy who was just starting school and the way they were to get to school was on horseback, unless it was awful weather, in which case the teacher would be allowed to use the jeep. One winter morning there was a threat of a blizzard coming, so she sent all the children home. She had to stay until 1PM to make it a day of school and by that time there really was a blizzard. She said that she started home on the horse and got colder and it got darker. She couldn’t find a fence to follow the section line home and was afraid she’d be lost for good in the storm. Following the things that she’d been told, she dropped the reins and told her horse to go home…and she didn’t realize she was home and safe until the horse stepped out of the snow and into the barn that had been hidden by the storm.
One of the school board members told her that she really needed to go to college and get a degree because the days of country schools were coming to a close. She did summer school in 1937, 38 and 39 and then went to school full time in 1939-40.
Ruth enjoyed college and had lots of friends. She and Frieda Paxton became sorority sisters at Chadron State. It was at Frieda’s home that she met Frieda’s brother, Homer.
She got her 3-year teaching degree in 1941 and her Bachelor of Science degree in 1943 from Nebraska State Teacher’s College in Chadron.
After she got her degree she taught Music in Scotts Bluff in 1941-42.
Sometime after the school year of 1942, Homer Paxton persuaded Ruth to come east to be near him as he pursued his PhD at Pudue University. When he was drafted into essential war-time industry, Homer had to leave school and move further east. They were married on December 6, 1944 at the Plainfield, Illinois Methodist Church. In 1945 they were living in Lodi, NJ, Homer was working for US Rubber Company and Ruth was staying home the way women did at that time. They had visits from both Homer’s mom, Anna and from the Ponts. They planted an enormous garden with 18 ft rows of everything, including dill. Ruth said that she never saw so much dill in her life. She also told about having friends over for corn from their garden and not realizing that anyone expected her to serve anything but corn.
