Ruth Annette Mills was born December 13, 1932 and was raised in Washington, D.C.. Mills and her husband, Charles Mills, lived in Georgia, Texas, and Maryland before coming to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968. She worked as a typist for the Office of Education at one point and did volunteer work for her church, the Cub Scouts, and the League of Women Voters (LWV). Mills also worked as a clerk-typist for the Clark County School District, and eventually became a teacher through the Teacher Corps program.