Obituary Details

John Robert Ruffing

(06/10/1934 - 06/16/2010)
Courtesy of The Lusk Herald, 06/23/2010

John R. Ruffing

John Ruffing was born in Lusk, Wyoming to Jennings and Bess (Anstice) Ruffing on June 10, 1934, in a two-room house belonging to his grandfather. In order to go from the bedroom to the kitchen you had to go outdoors. He started the first grade in Lusk and then went to country school in northern Niobrara County until the middle of the fifth grade, graduating from Lusk High School in 1952.

He married in 1955 and started a family that includes: Brenda Martinez (Oklahoma City), and her six children; Michael and his wife Tisha (Little Rock, Arkansas), Michael graduated from Lusk High School in 1979; and Barbara (Sheridan, WY) who lived with her husband Randy, finalized the adoption of their three small children from the same family in June of 2005. His family also includes 9 great-grandchildren.

In 1957 they moved to Seattle, where he attended Washington Aviation School, a branch of the University of Washington, for 2 years, becoming an aircraft mechanic. He spent the next 20 years working for 3 major airlines: Northwest Airlines in Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., New York ending in Detroit as Chief Mechanic; Frontier Airlines In Denver as a General Foreman Line Maintenance and Director of Support Services; Texas international Airlines in Houston. He retired as Director of Aircraft Support Services when his boss purchased Continental Airlines in 1976. In 1975 his departmental operating budget was $280,000,000. Aircraft fuel was $.67 per gallon.

In 1976 he had lung surgery and chemotherapy for cancer. He later had chemotherapy again in 1987. He went to work in 1977 for Shell Oil Company in their Houston Marketing Division. He retired in 1987, moving back to his roots in Lusk.

John re-established his love for genealogy research and high school sports. His family tree includes more than 3000 people. He has attended 35 of the last 37 long weekend trips to State Volleyball/Basketball Champion Tournaments and almost all of the home/away regular season games supporting the young students of our community. He laughs, because of his long career in having to justify aircraft delays to senior management; he can never be late and usually beats the school bus to out of town games.

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Related/Linked Records

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Obituary Ruffing, Kenneth (05/07/1934 - 07/11/1987) View Record
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Obituary Updike, Lester (04/23/1907 - 11/19/1991) View Record
Obituary Updike, Edith (09/09/1907 - 01/10/1994) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Peter (11/30/1865 - 07/08/1953) View Record
Obituary Plant, Luella (05/21/1903 - 01/19/1952) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, William (06/28/1951 - 03/09/2008) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Gertrude (12/01/1877 - 05/02/1933) View Record
Obituary Thomas, Jean (07/03/1936 - 07/22/2008) View Record
Obituary Erny, Hubertina (11/03/1900 - 10/17/2004) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Margaret (07/09/1914 - 05/20/2010) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Lawrence (01/10/1940 - 01/10/1940) View Record
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Obituary Ruffing, Brian (11/23/1969 - 09/12/2012) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Bess (06/15/1909 - 06/16/2013) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Michael (11/27/1890 - 07/04/1955) View Record
Obituary Ruffing, Donna (12/27/1945 - 03/31/2020) View Record
Obituary Dugan, Juddee (12/08/1960 - 06/27/2022) View Record