Ruby Valentine Fox Smith

Ruby was born 14 February 1893, in Sundance, Crook, Wyoming, the second child of William Raymond Fox and Elizabeth Ann Zane. She joined one older brother, Harold "Harry" Germaine Fox; a baby sister, Ruth Fox, was born eight years later and died the same day.

Ruby married Maurice Warfield Smith on 24 December 1913 at the Episcopal Church in Gillette, Campbell, Wyoming.


The church in Gillette where Maurice and Ruby were married


Ruby's handwriting on the back of the picture

Maurice and Ruby worked for Peter W. Ricketts, a cattle rancher who lived near Gillette - he as a ranch hand, she as a cook. They must have liked their employer, as their gave their oldest son William the middle name "Ricketts". In Bill's words:

The ranch was owned by William Pendleton Ricketts from whom I received my middle name. The ranch was commonly known as "The Rooney Place" and was also known as the Rawhide Ranch as it was located on Little Rawhide Creek.

Maurice and Ruby's children were William or "Bill", born 5 November 1918 on the ranch, and Raymond Maurice, born 3 June 1921, in Gillette, Campbell, Wyoming.

Bill remembered:

I remember a terrible hail storm and my mother went out to save her little chicks and a hailstone hit her in the back and made a big black and blue mark.

Eventually Maurice and Ruby moved to Big Horn county, Montana and settled on a farm near Lodge Grass, where they raised cattle and farmed and raised their boys.


Raymond and Bill, about 1930


U.S. Federal Census Record, 1930. The Smiths are family #23.

Eventually Bill and Raymond married and raised families of their own. Raymond and his wife settled nearby with their family; Bill worked for Allis-Chalmers and sold farm equipment all over the Northwest.


Ruby and Maurice, about 1953

Maurice died on 12 November 1956 in Hardin, Big Horn, Montana and was buried in the Lodge Grass Cemetery.


Ruby, early 1970s (picture of Bill and Raymond on the wall behind her)

Ruby died 29 October 1977 in Hardin and was buried next to Maurice. She left behind two sons and their wives, and five grandchildren.