Ralph G. Rhudy

Ralph Gene Rhudy, 90, died on October 23, 2010.
He was born July 19, 1920, in Comers Rock, VA, to the late Clay W. Rhudy and Madge Williams Rhudy. He left us gently, with memories to treasure of a life well-lived.
Survivors include his beloved and devoted wife of nearly 64 years, from Elk Creek, VA, “Johnny Bess” (Hale) Rhudy; children, Jean Rhudy Steusloff (and husband, Tom) of Roswell, GA, Stephen Clay Rhudy (and wife, Jane) of Raleigh, Barbara Hale Rhudy (and husband, Christopher Sammond) of Homer, NY; and Timothy Clark Rhudy of Cleveland, OH; grandchildren, Jay Randall Steusloff, of Wilmington, Garrett Rhudy Steusloff of Atlanta, GA, Mary Emerson Rhudy and Katherine Austin Rhudy, both of Raleigh; and his niece, Sarah Arnold Gose (and husband, Jim), of Morristown, TN, and her family.
His sister, Muriel Rhudy Arnold, predeceased him.
Ralph earned his BSEE at University of Tennessee. in 1942, entered the Navy and served as Engineer Officer on the destroyer escort U.S. S. Charles J. Kimmel, deployed in the Pacific war. After the war, he accepted employment at General Electric and worked primarily in the Schenectady, NY, motor businesses, developing liquid metal pumps for the first nuclear submarines, and insulation systems for hydroelectric power plants in the Pacific Northwest, among other projects. He was honored with the Philip L. Alger Award and designation as an IEEE Fellow.
Ralph was a kind and quiet man with a keen mind and remarkable dry wit, highly respected and beloved by family, friends and colleagues. He was happy in his garden, and loved being in the mountains. He and his wife played duplicate bridge with the same group for over fifty years. They also kept up with his UT fraternity brothers from Delta Sigma Phi and his Navy shipmates, as well as their childhood friends and their immediate and extended families.
The prospect of dementia in old age was familiar to Ralph; he accepted it with remarkable grace. He and his family were well served and his latter days were enriched by the staff at the Ruth Sheets Center, and then for the last five months of his life in the Reminiscence Neighborhood at Brighton Gardens of Raleigh.
We give thanks to all those who cared for him.
A small private graveside service will be conducted in the Comers Rock Cemetery and a celebration of his life will be planned for the Spring.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Alzheimer’s Association and/or to the Ruth Sheets Center c/o Edenton Street Methodist Church, Raleigh, NC.