When Ruth Afton Payne was born on 19 December 1911, in Weiser, Washington, Idaho, United States, her father, Henry Phillips Payne, was 31 and her mother, Flora Charlotta Thompson, was 30. She married Kenneth Earl Jolley on 20 February 1931, in Cassia, Idaho, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son. She lived in Heyburn, Minidoka, Idaho, United States in 1930 and Emerson Election Precinct, Minidoka, Idaho, United States for about 5 years. She died on 26 February 1956, in Burley, Cassia, Idaho, United States, at the age of 44, and was buried in Burley, Cassia, Idaho, United States.