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Cowl was born in the [[Brooklyn]] borough of [[New York City]], the youngest of eight children of [[Russia]]n parents. Her father died before she was two years of age, and her mother expired when Ruth was only twelve. At the age of sixteen, she attended the Alliance Française for a year of high school while her sister attended the prestigious Sorbonne in [[Paris]], [[France]]. She obtained a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree from [[New York University]] in southern [[Manhattan]] and was certified to teach the English and French languages.<ref name=autogenerated1truechampiongone>{{cite web|url=http://www.lmtonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19401082&BRD=2290&PAG=461&dept_id=569392&rfi=6|publisher=''Laredo Morning Times''|title=True champion gone; Rehabilitation center founder Ruthe B. Cowl dead at 96|accessdate=March 18, 2008}}</ref> However, she spent her sophomore and junior years in [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]], [[South Carolina]]. She supported herself as a student, working first as a research analyst in vocational placement and subsequently as a research assistant for a professor of [[geology]] at the [[University of South Carolina]], where she was enrolled as a student.<ref name=autogenerated2 />

On New Years Eve, 1934, in Nyack, New York, she wed Jack Cowl (October 17, 1909 &ndash; July 6, 2001). The Cowl family moved to [[Dallas]] with their two sons looking to establish a new business. During a trip to Mexico during the Christmas school vacation in 1952, the family stopped in the [[Rio Grande]] border city of Laredo in Webb County in south Texas to visit people whom they had met through mutual friends in Dallas. They were impressed with the unique culture and business opportunity that Laredo presented and purchased a music store there in March 1953. The store grew and sold records, [[television]]s, and prestigious sound systems, having drawn customers from Mexico and South Texas.<ref name=autogenerated1 truechampiongone/>