Ruby Evelyn Hickey Johnson was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in November of 1918. She was the youngest of four children. Ruby was an unexpected late in life baby for her parents, Ferd and Mettie, and she was much younger than her beloved brother, Thomas Tipton, who she affectionately called 'Tip'. Ruby's parents died when she was a young child and she lived with various relatives until she graduated from Karns High School in 1936. After graduating from high school, Ruby enrolled at the Fort Sanders Hospital School of Nursing in Knoxville. After graduating from nursing school in 1940, Ruby enlisted as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army at the beginning of World War II. Read more about nurses in World War II.

Unlike many women of her generation, Ruby made her nursing and military careers a priority and did not marry her husband Walter until 1951. Ruby’s first child, a daughter named Nancy, was born in 1952. Her two sons, Thomas and Edwin, soon followed in 1954 and 1956. After the birth of her children, Ruby continued working as a private duty nurse and for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs at the Veteran’s Medical Center in Knoxville.

Ruby was an intelligent, independent, and charismatic woman who defied the gender norms of her time by pursuing her education and career before marriage and family. She was most proud of her time in service with the United States Army and as a nurse at the V.A hospital. However, Ruby was also a much-loved mother and grandmother who doted on her children and grandchildren. Before her death in 2004, Ruby saw the birth of five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.