Raised and educated in Bakersfield, Ruth Love went on to become a nationally respected educator.

After her birth in 1932, she attended Lincoln School, Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College. She earned her BA and teaching credentials at Cal State Colleges in San Jose and San Francisco. She later earned her doctorate, in human behavior, from US International University in San Diego.

She became Superintendent of Schools in Oakland, in 1976, after the assassination of her predecessor Marcus Foster by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

At the time, she was the only woman superintendent of schools in Californian. Her management style made her a controversial figure in Oakland, but she was able to bring fiscal order to its schools, and managed to keep the schools open during tough labor negotiations.

She later headed up the Chicago schools, a district with over 500,000 students, the nation's third largest school district.

Bakersfield's Holloway-Gonzales Branch Library was named in part after her. (Her married name had been Holloway before she returned to using her maiden name.).