GED Stories

Ruth Ann from Delaware

Ruth Ann Minner earned her GED in Delaware in 1969. She is a grandmother, a former receptionist, and in 2001, became the 72nd governor of Delaware. Ruth Ann Minner was a widow with three sons when she took the GED test. She was working two jobs to support her family, and the GED test was an important first step in a long journey. She started a political career in 1974, as a representative in Delaware’s congress. She became lieutenant governor of Delaware in 1993, before being elected governor. She served eight years as Delaware’s governor. In her second inaugural address, Minner gave her philosophy: “for Ruth Ann Minner, farmer, gardener and daughter of a sharecropper, it is simply this: Work hard. Do the right thing. And leave things better than you found them.”