When Ruth Octella Sparks was born on 5 January 1911, in Vega, Oldham, Texas, United States, her father, Samuel Cleveland Sparks, was 26 and her mother, Ethel Lee Hornbeck, was 21. She married John Clarendon Mclauchlin on 30 April 1953, in Bend, Deschutes, Oregon, United States. She lived in Justice Precinct 3, Cameron, Texas, United States for about 20 years. She died on 29 December 2004, in Bend, Deschutes, Oregon, United States, at the age of 93, and was buried in Bend, Deschutes, Oregon, United States.