Rufus Harold Milne was born on Nov. 15, 1890 in Crookston. His dad worked in a feed mill. He went to college at the University of Minnesota Engineering School.

By the time World War I rolled around he lived in St. Paul and enlisted in the army, first working at Fort Snelling as an "attendant" at the military camp. He was a provisional second lieutenant in the 69th Infantry, but never got overseas. (For this reason, he was at one point denied a bonus bond, and this discrimination was discussed in a newspaper article in Seattle.)

He married a woman named Ruth he met during the war (she worked in the medical corps), who was from Missouri and taught music. They had one daughter named Margaret (who was a woman accepted for volunteer emergency service in World War II). He was a Christian Scientist.

By WWII he lived in Seattle and stayed in the Northwest until his death. He mostly seemed to work as a salesman and at one point owned a hardware store and building supply.

He died on Jan. 29, 1967.