Miss Ruth P. (Waca) Ford was a graduate of Peoria High School and the Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago.  She worked in industrial nursing and floor supervising as well as private nursing.

Following her graduation from Masonic Hospital, she was placed in charge of the floor to which all Cubs and Bears players were sent when injured or ill.  Listed among the players who were under her care were Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Riggs Stevenson, and Kiki Cuyler

During World War II, she was supervisor of women for the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., a position in which she served for two and one half years.  Among her duties there was the coordination of the activities of 1,600 women employees, collaborating on a Florida program, and speaking before various civic organizations.

Ruth was an active member of the Tampa Women's Club, Hillsborough Country Association of Social Workers, U.S.O., Red Cross, and Pilot International of Tampa. 

Before she married, Miss Waca was a registered nurse in good standing in the states of Illinois and Florida.  A lover of travel, she visited extensively in the United States, and also toured Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, and Cuba.