About the Author

N. Ruth Phillips Heath was born March 4, 1911. Being the oldest daughter of twelve children, she learned very early the meanings of sacrifice, sadness, and disappointment. Because her father, Samuel R. Phillips, was determined he would one day find the fertile land that would fill the barn with bountiful crops, thus moving the family up and down the Clinch River in search of his dream, Ruth obtained a sporadic education at best. Through her childhood and teen years, Ruth found strength through her mother, Xymena (Mena) Ault Phillips, whose constant faith in God helped Ruth find the determination to stand up to the cruelties she saw at work around her, and to finish high school. N. Ruth Phillips married Harry E. Heath on April 28, 1932, and had two children, Elizabeth E. Heath Pauken (b. 1934) and Edward A. Heath (b. 1939). During the children's growing up years, the family lived in Maumee, Ohio. Upon her husband's retirement from New York Central Railroad, Ruth and her family moved to California. After a brief stay, the family made the move to Boulder, Colorado, where Ruth operated a small grocery store. After three years of running the small store, Ruth and her husband went to work for R. L. Polk and Co., traveling the western states for several years before retiring to Loveland, Colorado. In their later years, the Heaths moved back to Tennessee to live with their daughter in a cabin overlooking the Cumberland River. Harry E. Heath died May 28, 1996. Shortly after his death, Ruth returned to Boulder, Colorado, where she spent her remaining years with her son. She died January 3, 2008, at age 96.