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RUTH ANN MINNER was born in Slaughter Neck in Sussex County, Delaware. She left school at age 16 to help on her family's farm, later marrying Frank Ingram. Widowed suddenly at 32 with three sons to raise, she worked two jobs while going to school to earn her General Education Development (GED) diploma. She built a family towing business with her second husband, Roger Minner, who died of lung cancer in 1991. Minner began in politics by stuffing envelopes, then worked as an aide in the state legislature and as receptionist to then-Governor Sherman Tribbitt. She was elected to four terms in the state House of Representatives beginning in 1974, to three terms in the state Senate beginning in 1982, and to two terms as lieutenant governor in 1992 and 1996. Minner was elected governor of Delaware in November 2000. Governor Minner was elected to a second term in 2004. As Governor, she worked to improve schools, preserve and protect the environment, improve health care and fight cancer, as well as create and keep jobs.

She lives on a farm in Milford and enjoys spending time with her three sons and their wives, her seven grandchildren, and her great-granddaughter and two step-great-grandsons.