[2] Stray Ryssdal was a deputy judge in Kragerø and Steigen before working as a secretary and inspector in Riksskattestyret from 1951 to 1956.

In 1972 she left the lawyer job to become chief administrative officer of social affairs (sosialrådmann) in Oslo.

Her career ended with the post of County Governor of Aust-Agder, which she held from 1983 until her retirement in 1994.

She was a member of several public boards and committees; some of them as a jurist (Sivillovbokutvalet, Skattekomiteen av 1966, Narkotikarådet) and some of them as a non-jurist, chairing Statens eldreråd from 1979 to 1993.

[2] In December 1954, she married Rolv Ryssdal (1914–1998),[2] who would become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.