Ruby Armenta Madsen Ivory
Ruby Madsen Ivory was born May 17, 1892, at Mt. Pleasant, Utah. While she was still a child, her family moved from town to settling on a farm. Here Ruby worked in the fields and became known as a champion beet thinner. Upon entering school, she proved to be an excellent student and a well-known poetry enthusiast. Ruby was one of twelve students in the first class to be graduated from the North Sanpete High School. After her graduation, she attended summer school at the University of Utah and obtained a teaching certificate. In the fall of 1912, she began her teaching career in the public schools at Fountain Green, Utah. Besides teaching her classes, she enjoyed sleigh-riding parties, dances, and horse-and-buggy rides to Mt. Pleasant. From 1913 to 1917 Ruby taught in the elementary grades at Mt. Pleasant under the supervision of a former principal, P. M. Nielson. During the summer of 1917, Ruby left for Chicago to fulfill an L.D.S. mission. Upon her return home, she married to L. Royal Ivory in the Manti Temple on January 22, 1919. Ruby continued teaching in Fountain Green until the birth of her first daughter. When her two girls were grown and there was a demand for more teachers, she went back to the classroom. After the death of her husband in 1945, she moved to Salt Lake City to make her home and to continue teaching. While teaching school, Ruby was also active in church and community organizations. She was president of the Sanpete-Sevier District Federation of Women's Clubs, first president of the State Ladies' Woolgrowers Association, president of the Home Economics Club, and a member of the Sanpete Country Welfare and Emergency Committee. She was also stake president of the Primary Association for fifteen years, a Junior Seminary teacher, and a class leader for the Relief Society. When she died on July 2, 1958, her family consisted of two daughters-Lois and Hanna-and eight grandchildren.
