Friends gather for 'Bud' Rue memorial

About 125 people participated in a "Celebration of the Life of Clyde B. 'Bud' Rue" and shared their joy of having known Mr. Rue and their sorrow at the end of his quest to improve the world around him.

The ceremony at the Milanville Methodist Church took place on a rainy day, Saturday, Oct. 30, "When people were weeping inside, the earth was weeping, too," commented Glenn Pontier.

The celebration began and ended with music performed by harpists Carl and Shannon Robbins. Guitarist Laurie Stuart led the packed church in two of Mr. Rue's favorite hymns, "We Are a Gentle, Angry People" and "Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield," with themes of peace and social justice.

Mr. Rue's friends and family members ahred poems and stories about him and the ways he affected their lives.

Mr. Rue's life ended when he took his last steps in a "Walk for Justice" that he helped organize. The walk raised money for four organizations that worked for some of the same ideals that Mr. Rue did throughout his life: Habitat for Humanity of Wayne County, Victims Intervention Program, Interfaith Outreach United of Callicoon and the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office.

The walk was the "culmination of his ideas" to help society's forgotten people, according to Rev. Raymond J. Pontier, pastor of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship that Mr. Rue helped establish.

Mr. Rue "was religious without being sanctimonious, pious or self-righteous," but instead "exemplified what Jesus meant when he said you should love your neighbor as yourself," said Rev. Pontier.

Dale Rosenberg, Habitat for Humanity's president, said that Mr. Rue left "an enduring legacy" in the Wayne County chapter that grew from a small group of people with a desire to help, to a well-known organization that actually is building a house. "He died for projects he loved, but more importantly, he lived for them," Mr. Rosenberg added.

There was not a dry eye in the church when his daughter, Ella Rue-Eyet, read a letter that she wrote to her late father, saying that she would miss the "large-hearted" man "with a laugh that filled a room," and whose "kindness knew no end.