 After this, she divorced Mac Alexander, and move to San Diego, California in order to pursue aviation.At the time, San Diego, California went by the nickname “Air Capital of the West.”

Arriving in San Diego, Ruth worked as a beautician to save up sufficient funds for flight school.However, at precisely the same time, the editor of the local "San Diego Sun" newspaper announced a contest to encourage women’s participation in aviation – the winner of the “Miss Air Capital of the West” contest would receive a free full course of instruction at the Ryan Flying School (a cost of $1375, roughly $20,000 in 2019 dollars).