On September 14, 1945, Ruby Johnston migrated from Newfoundland to New York City to join her American fiancé , actor
Hal Holbrook, whom she married at the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City. She was 22 years old and he was 20. The couple had two children, Victoria and
David Holbrook, before divorcing, and later two grandchildren, Abigail and
Will Holbrook. Ruby Holbrook developed breast cancer not long after her divorce from Hal Holbrook. She survived the disease as well as a later recurrence.