Ruby Wilson was born in Ontario in 1892. She married James Wilson, and settled in Sintaluta, Saskatchewan. They had children Gerald (1914), Donald (1915), Dorothea (1917), Shirley (1919), Thomas (1921), and Basil (1929). James died in 1954.

Ruby’s eldest daughter Dorothea gave her a diary for Christmas in 1963 to write in. She would keep near-daily diary entries until at least 1970.

Ruby died in 1984.