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Bill Doolen and Ruth Willims met in the Kinmundy area where they both lived. They attended the same barn dances outside of Kinmundy, and accroding to Ruth, Bill told his friends after dancing with her at one of the dances, that this was the girl he would marry. However, Ruth was seeing another boy at the time, and it was two years before they were married.

In 1926 they moved to Monte Vista, Colorado, where Bill worked on a potato farm. They returned to Alma, IL in 1928, and soon Bill was working as a barber, which he did for the rest of his life.In 1929 they moved to Kinmundy, where they stayed. They lived many years at a house on Route 37 in Kinmundy, then moved to Main St. in town, where Bill lived the remainder of his life, and where Ruth stayed until selling the house and moving into an apartment in town in 19 .

Ruth operated a restaurant in Kinmundy from 1949 until 1952. Bill and Ruth attended the First Christian Church in Kinmundy for many years. Bill had a very good voice and sang in the choir.

Bill Doolen died 19 July 1977 while he and Ruth were on vacation, celebrating their wedding anniversary, in Missouri. Cause of death was a blood clot in the brain. His death came quickly and apparently with little pain. He had been on vacation to visit the Shepherd of the Hills Playhouse in Missouri, something he had always wanted to see, and did before his death. He is buried in the Doolen Cemetery, Foster Township, Kinmundy, IL.

Ruth Doolen suffered from diabetes much of her later life, but was able to control that condition by diet and pills until the last few years. She died 10 May 1992 from cancer. She is buried beside Bill at the Doolen Cemetery.