Walk the walk

The walk was scheduled and was held October 24, 1993. I did not attend that walk due to a conflicting commitment at a Sullivan County United Way dinner in Jeffersonville, a decision I regretted. 

[photo of crossing the bridge]

About __  members and friends of the UDUUF took part in the fund-raising event to benefit ______

It is uncertain whether the event would have continued past its first year, or how much it would have raised if all had gone as planned had Bud, then 59, not suffered an asthma attack and died during the walk. Athletic in his younger days, Bud was overweight and had other health issues, but he was he was not sick. According to witnesses, he walked about a mile down the road from Narrowsburg to Innisfree. He sat down to rest on a boulder to rest his leg, which he said had a cramp. He told the driver of the sweep car (which was driving back and forth handing out water bottles and offering rides to anyone who needed a break) that he felt too tired to walk, and that his leg hurt. Moments after entering the car, according to the Rev. Ray Pontier (the driver), Bud seemed to nod off to sleep. Medics were unable to revive him on the Innisfree lawn. The cause of death was listed as "cardio-pulmonary arrest", which seemed credible. There was no autopsy. A crowded service at the Milanville Methodist Church was too large to be held at Innisfree, and actually spilled onto the lawn of the church, with all pews filled.

One day after Yule 1993, Bud's family privately interred his cremated remains on the Innisfree hillside, in a circle held around the ancient maple. A marker etched in native bluestone reads, with a quotation from the frontispiece of Kurt Vonnegut's contemporary novel, Bluebeard:

A lead story on several area newspapers carried a headline like the one shown below, as did the U.U. World, published in Boston by the Unitarian Universalist Association.

This report appeared on page 1 of The River Reporter:

Organizer dies on walkathon

By LISA JOHNSON
NARROWSBURG - Clyde "Bud" Rue walked his last steps in the name of society's forgotten people.

Rue, 59, died, Sunday, October 24, after marching briefly in the "Walk for Social Justice," a 10-kilometer walkathon he and other members of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship organized to raise funds for human service organizations in Sullivan County and Wayne County.

"He was the oil that keeps society operating," said longtime friend Glenn Pontier. "He filled in the cracks and smoothed the gears."

Pontier, who was one of the 28 people walking in the march with Rue, said Rue grew tired after the first mile or so. The "sweep car" following the walkers picked Rue up. He chatted with the drivers -- Pontier's parents -- for a few moments and then collapsed.

Pontier said Rue was driven to Innisfree in Milanville, Rue's home and the walkers' destination. Emergency medical workers were called to the scene and Rue reportedly died on the way to Wayne Memorial Hospital.

"He was so anxious to do that walk," Ann Rue said. Mrs. Rue said she tried to talk her husband out of walking, feeling it would be too strenuous. "But he would not be dissuaded."

The $1,000 raised by the walk will benefit the Victims Intervention Program of Honesdale, an agency that helps battered and abused women; Habitat for Humanity of Wayne County; Interfaith Outreach United of Callicoon; and the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office.

"The common denominator was my father," said Tom Rue of Monticello. Tom Rue described his father as a man, who, together with his wife, Ann, dedicated much of their time to charity. While others might lament social problems, Tom Rue said, "My father asked, `What can we do?' And then he did it."

Tom Rue said his parents generated the idea of a local Habitat for Humanity chapter, a national program that helps poor families build homes on donated land, and formed the group with other religious organizations.

Tom Rue's wife Carmen echoed her husband's sentiments.

"He was like a father to me. He was always there for anybody who needed him."

Yesterday's walkathon began with Rue leading the way from the Tusten-Cochecton Library in Narrowsburg toward Innisfree. Innisfree, Tom Rue explained, was an educational summer camp for teens that his parents operated in 1970. The couple moved to Innisfree four years ago when Clyde Rue retired from teaching mathematics in New Jersey.

The cause of Rue's death could not be determined las night, though friends said Rue had asthma and had recently undergone two operations.

Rue was a founding member of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; a board member of The River School at Innisfree; and a founding member of the Upper Delaware chapter of Amnesty International.

Rue and his wife have four adult children. Tom Rue, John Rue of New York City, David Rue of Newtown, Pa., and Ella Rue-Eyet of Rockland, Mass.

"He was simply a great spirit," Pontier said. "He died walking for social justice. If I could only have that on my epitaph."

Pontier said organizers hope to make the walkathon annual as a memorial to Rue, and the family is asking that memorial contributions be made to the Fellowship, which will distribute the money to the four agencies for which Rue walked.

Annual fund-raisers held for many years by the UDUUF were called the Bud Rue Memorial Walk for Social Justice. In more recent years, rather than walking, the fellowship has chosen to simply collect funds, still in the name of the Bud Rue Fund for Social Justice.

As of 1997, four such events had generated $12,000.00 for charitable organizations mostly based in the river valley.

[Update BRM Fund info]

Going Back To The Earth

Future activities at the premises once operated by Innisfree Corporation, whatever they may be, will most likely be of a very different nature than have occurred there in the past. "Innisfree," as it was, no longer exists, though its current owner elects to honor the place's history by retaining the name.

It is said, "You can't step in the same river twice." Bud Rue died with the belief that the "free school" concept after which Innisfree was modeled was untenable, at least in his teaching practice. But he remained idealistic and hopeful, and as a teacher he remained open to non-traditional teaching methods and relationships, and committed to serving our community in whatever way was needed for which he was suited. For over two decades, he, Ann Rue, and the Innisfree board of trustees found ways to use the property toward that end.

Whatever becomes of that which remains of the Innisfree property will benefit from the river valley's unrivaled beauty. There is nowhere quite like this valley on earth. The property's current owner, Cynthia Nash, who is an artist and writer, hopes to secure funding to preserve and maintain the main house, barn, and rec hall. Everything tends to go back to the earth, which can only be forestalled with attention and maintenance. Of course, we understand, an undertaking like the preservation or restoration of old buildings also requires money.