Ruth Mary Nitchals was born in 1923, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She worked as a County Extension Agent and Assistant Professor at OSC from 1948-1950. She got married in 1949 and changed her name to Ruth Nitchals Klippstein. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from University of Cincinnati in 1944, where she held the highest scholastic average of the 1944 Home Economics class. She was a member of Omicron Nu, a home economics honorary society, where she served as treasurer, and Iota Sigma Pi, a women’s chemistry honorary society. She received her Master of Science in Physiology from Michigan State College in 1946. Her graduate thesis centered on blood studies on the effect of antibiotics in rats. Following this, she went directly to Washington, D.C, to work as a nutrition chemist with the United States Department of Agriculture. There she worked over a year in the Bureau of Nutrition and Home Economics, and then came to OSC to work on the Western Regional Research Project as a nutritional chemist. This unit was soon transferred to California, but Prof. Klippstein preferred Oregon, so she began work at OSC as a home extension agent. She resigned from OSC in February of 1950 (at a salary of $4,080) to remain at home. Soon thereafter, she had her first child, Richard, who was born in April, 1950, and her daughter Marjorie, who was born in March, 1953. During her time as a homemaker, she was active in the 4-H Club program, took an interest in the local extension unit, and taught summer classes for the recreation district of Springfield. She returned to Oregon State College in 1956 at a salary of $5,508, as she and her husband wished to buy a farm. In 1957, she was transferred as a Nutrition Specialist and Associate Professor at a salary of $6,840. She resigned in 1961 (at which point she earned $9,348 annually) to accept a position as Nutrition Specialist at Cornell University, who offered her a salary of $10,200. She was an active member of the Calvin Presbyterian Church of Corvallis, Oregon. Professor Klippstein was said to be a person of “unusual personal qualities in addition to her excellent training and experience,” Although she considered herself a regular “Cub scout mom, neighborhood chauffeur, and puller of the flower bed weeds.”
