Rebecca Veach was born in Collinsville, Illinois in 1942 where she grew up, she then went to Albion College for 2 years before meeting her husband and deciding to start a family. It is unclear when she decided to go back to school to finish her bachelors and Masters, however she got both from Sangamon State University in History. She was then hired by Sangamon State University where she was the Assistant to the Vice President of Academic Affairs for 20 years. She then wrote a book titled Growing Up with Springfield and then went on to be an editor for multiple histories of Abraham Lincoln. She then retired in 2001 to Columbus Ohio where she lived with her husband until she passed in 2015.