Ruth Marie Bain was born in 1919 in Normangee, Texas, the seventh of nine children. The family later moved to Centerville, Texas where she graduated from high school as class Valedictorian in 1936. She earned a bachelor of arts in Chemistry from the Texas State College for Women, now Texas Women's University, in 1939. She went on to attend the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where she earned her degree as a medical doctor in 1942. Bain completed her internship at St. Louis Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri and her residency at Brackenridge Hospital. Her first job as a doctor was with the University of Texas Student Health Center from 1947-1950. In 1950, she went on to establish a private practice in Family Medicine in Austin.
Over the years, Dr. Bain has devoted much of her free time to a number professional and civic organizations. In 1957, she was honored as the Soroptimist International Club Outstanding Women of the Year. She served as secretary-treasurer of the Travis County Medical Society from 1958-1961 and then as its first women president from 1962-1963. In 1973, Bain was appointed Clinical Director of the Family Practice Residency Program in Austin. This led to an appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor at the UT Health Sciences Center in San Antonio in 1978. In 1975, she was voted one of five Outstanding Women of the Year by the Austin American-Statesman. Other civic activiities include Past President of the Austin Zonta Club, as well as a board member of the YMCA, the Austin Council for Retarded Children, the Central Texas Comprehensive Health Planning Commission and the Human Opportunities Corporation.
More recently, Dr. Bain has been a member of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, on the Board of Directors for the Texas Medical Foundation as well as the Travis County Medical Society Foundation, a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, and served as a Medical Discipline and Alternate Delegate to the American Medical Association from 1988-1992. She was president of the Texas Medical Association from 1982-1983. In September, 1990, Bain was elected to the Central Texas Women's Hall of Fame. In 1991, following double bypass surgery, she retired from private practice and has since scaled back on many of her organizational commitments. She is an avid golfer and has a private pilot's license.
From the guide to the Ruth Bain Papers AR. 1991. 005., 1954-1991, (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library)
