Royal Edna Ogden was born December 14, 1912, in Chapman, Nebraska. She had a younger brother, Loren James Ogden. Her parents, Ernest Sutton Ogden and Edna Royal Laub were tillers of the land, with her father’s occupation noted as “Farmer and Stockman.” The house in which she was born was the homestead built by her father’s father, and it was a typical house of those times, having large rooms and high ceilings. In 1918, at the end of the first World War, her father built a house on a large lot east of their home. She lived there until after her school days.

Royal’s schooling began when she was four years old, in a small kindergarten. It continued in public elementary and high school. Royal graduated from high school in 1930, at the age of 16, and she entered Grand Island Baptist College that same year. After attending Baptist College, she graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, as well as Boyles Business College and Duchesne College in Omaha. She worked for the a few years for the government in Omaha. 

It was in Omaha that she joined the Catholic Church. Several years after she became a Catholic, Royal applied to the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Albany, N.Y. She had “desired to be the bride of Christ” since she was six years old. During the time of her novitiate, it became apparent that she was called to a more contemplative way of life. She made application to Clyde and was received as a postulant on November 21, 1940. On February 10, 1943, she professed temporary vows and received the name of Sr. Mary Ruth. She made perpetual vows on February 11, 1948.

Sr. M. Ruth was very talented. She could play several musical instruments, including the piano, and had learned Gregorian chant. It was a time in community when education was not valued, and none of these talents were utilized. Most of her religious life was spent as a librarian, which gave her access to continued mental stimulation. Sr. M. Ruth was transferred to St. Benedict Health Care Center in June, 1992, and she celebrated her golden jubilee of profession the following year.

At the time of her death, Sr. M. Ruth was in the midst of a four-day retreat. She had received the Anointing of the Sick the morning of her death. During Vespers she began to feel ill and left chapel. At supper she experienced intense pain. Death came quickly from an abdominal aneurysm, Sister had known for a year that death would come quickly and without warning.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated in the St. Louis Monastery on Tuesday, November 12, 1996, with burial in Mount Calvary cemetery at Clyde the following day.