Ruth Aline Reynolds Memorial Scholarship

Ruth Aline Foster was born in San Diego, California on March 12, 1923 the second daughter of Ruth and Fred Foster. A petite woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, she led a daring and adventurous life after she graduated from what is now San Diego State University. She taught elementary school for three years, but then moved to work in Morocco at a time when bombings of cafes were commonplace. She returned to San Diego to work for Astronautics which was a division of General Dynamics. At Astronautics she worked on the Skylab program. She supervised a team of male engineers and longed to be one herself, but she did not have an engineering degree. That did not stop her from making significant contributions to her team, but her dream was to become an engineer. Towards the end of World War Two, she met and eloped to Hawaii with James Hamilton Reynolds, a Commander in the US Navy. He was in Pearl Harbor on the day of the bombing, ferrying ammunition up to guns atop the buildings on the base and also served honorably in the Korean War and the Vietnam.

She was dearly loved by all who knew her and served as an inspiration to her nieces. She was the cool, daring, adventurous career woman that inspired them. We hope that this scholarship will allow intelligent adventurous women to become engineers, follow their dreams, and inspire the next generation of women.