[1] Throughout her life she was referred to alternately as “Maxine” and “Evelyn.” Ryer graduated from South Bend High School in 1916,[2] where she was active in dramatic arts and performed in the initial play given at “the first Little Theater ever opened by a high school in America.”[3] She subsequently attended Nazareth Academy in Kalamazoo, Michigan to study violin and drama.
[5] Ryer enrolled in 1921 as the first female law student at the University of Notre Dame.
[6] She also began serving as a clerk in the law office of former South Bend City Attorney Frank H.
[6] On September 12, 1922 Ryer passed an examination and became the first woman admitted to the St. Joseph County (Indiana) bar for active practice in court.
Ryer married Everett Miller in St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan on May 25, 1925.