Ruth Stafford Peale*

Ruth Stafford Peale was born in 1906 in Fonda, Iowa, where her father was a Methodist minister. Her family later moved to Detroit, where Peale took her first job at the age of 14. She worked at the ribbon counter in a department store and earned $11 a week. She always followed her father's advice: "It pays to be patient and kind, no matter how unfair life may seem to be at the time."

During her senior year in high school, Peale was the vice president of her class. She graduated in 1922 and then attended Detroit's City College for one year. Although she wanted to continue, Peale quit in order to work full time to support her older brother's education. After working for Michigan Bell Telephone Company, she returned to school in 1926; her younger brother helped pay her tuition. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1928 with a degree in math, taught school, and married Norman Vincent Peale in 1930. They moved to New York City two years later, where Peale's husband became the senior minister at Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue.

In six decades of marriage and ministry, the Peale partnership communicated its message of the power of Christian faith and positive thinking to millions of people worldwide. Her husband, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking, became one of the foremost ministers and motivational speakers and writers of the 20th century. Working closely with her husband in all aspects of his ministry, Peale established a separate identity as a religious leader, public speaker, and author. She was the co-founder, publisher, and chairman emeritus of Guideposts, a spiritual magazine she started to share her husband's sermons with people outside their congregation.

In 1990, the Peale Center was established and later merged with Guideposts to form a church corporation publishing five magazines including Angels on Earth and Miracles and Healing, with the Peale Center serving as the outreach division.

Peale was the author of Secrets of Staying in Love (1984) and A Lifetime of Positive Thinking (2001), her memoirs. "My entire life has been devoted to helping people find a richer, fuller life for themselves and their families," she once said. "It has been a privilege to write and speak about discovering that God is ever-present in our lives. He brings spiritual strength to all of us. The motivation I have received from Horatio Alger participants has been a blessing to me."