Sister Ruth attended the College of Saint Benedict (CSB), before joining the monastery. She taught art at CSB for one year before moving to Cathedral High School, where more than 60 Sisters lived at the convent. She earned a graduate degree in sociology during summers at St. Louis University and was dean of residents at St. Benedict’s Academy until it closed. S. Ruth also worked in formation and as personnel coordinator.

In 1985, she assisted with a Stearns County History Museum exhibit of monastery needlework. She also oversaw the transfer of museum quality artifacts from the archives to a Heritage Room and was on the committee that proposed Art and Heritage Place in 2000. “What a story we have to tell—one that can inspire all women with what these women have done, show them we can do it,” she said, and continues, “It’s gratifying when people  who have a connection to the story come in. They recognize what they’ve heard from the generations before when they see it in the museum.”

S. Ruth currently lives at Saint Benedict’s monastery and continues her museum work at the Haehn Museum on the monastery campus.