Background
Ruth Leach was born in 1916 in Oakland, California.
Ruth Leach was born in 1916 in Oakland, California.
She attended Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California. She attended the University of California, Berkeley starting in 1933.
She was appointed as the first female executive and vice president at in 1943, at age 27, becoming one of only a few women in high ranking corporate positions in the United States at the time. She was renowned nationally for her business skills and as an educator of women. She had one sister.
While in school, she played tennis.
She was a camp counselor, too. After graduating in 1937 with a degree in political science, she worked as a dental assistant.
Eventually, she quit to work at the Golden Gate International Exposition. She started working at in February, 1939.
She worked at the Golden Gate International Exposition, presenting demo"s of typewriters.
She trained in service system work for and was sent to work at "s Atlanta, Georgia office. She became a teacher for at the United States Department of Education in Endicott, New York, in July, 1940. In October, she became the Secretary of Education for Women for That position had her training women throughout about selling products throughout North America.
Amonette became vice president of on November 16, 1943.
She credited Thomas J. Watson providing the "vision and foresight" to employ her in a high level position. This position made her one of the few women in corporate "power" positions in the United States and one of the youngest people in the nation to hold a high level position.
In 1947, she recovered from tuberculosis, in which she had to take leave from She started worked back at that year. From 1947 to 1953 she was a board member for the Camp Fire Girls, the New York Public Library, the Professional Women"s Club of New York, the American Association of University Women, and other organizations.
In 1946, she served on the New York State Women"s Council.
She retired in 1953. They lived near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She and Pollock adopted a daughter in 1956.
They relocated to Switzerland and then to California.
Pollock died in 1977. Amonette remarried in 1988 to Wilbur K. Amonette. She published an autobiography in 1999.
Amonette died in 1999.
She died in Carmel, California in 2004. 1945 - Outstanding American Woman of the Year, Women"s National Press Club
1945 - Merit Award, Mademoiselle
1996 - Induction, Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, Women in Technology International.
Kappa Kappa Gamma; Camp Fire Girls. New York Public Library. American Association of University Women.
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society]
She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
She was a board member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.