Ron Tepley set up the Ruth M. Tepley Memorial Fund to honor his late wife. The fund provides money to students interested in writing, drawing, painting or geology, which were areas of study important to the Tepleys.

Both Ruth and Ron Tepley were born in the Cleveland, Ohio area. She obtained an Associate Degree in Houston, Texas. He went to Ohio State University until serving in the Korean War. When he came back to the States, he returned to Ohio State and pursued a graduate degree in geology.

The Tepley's met on a blind date in their late teens. He was twenty-three and she was twenty-two when they wed in 1953. Because Ron was in the oil business, the family lived everywhere from Utah to Louisiana to Michigan before Pennzoil transferred him to Parkersburg. The couple had four children. The eldest son resides in Alabama, the second in Ohio and the youngest in South Carolina. Their daughter lives in Colorado.

Ruth and Ron frequently traveled abroad together. Ruth was a yoga instructor and taught in both Parkersburg and Marietta. She also attended First Unitarian Universalist Church in Marietta, where Ron still goes. He led the men's group for six years and she was the head of the religious committee. She also loved gardening and animals and started the Parkersburg chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). He currently enjoys painting, drawing and sculpting.