Innisfree, 1970-1998

By Tom Rue

Chapter 10 - Faith with feet

The walk was held on October 24, 1993. 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 age 59, and not died during that first walk. 

My take is that it probably would have continued because all of the organizers and members of the UDUUF were committed to the idea of making a difference in the local community. 

Athletic in his younger days, by 1993 Bud was overweight and had other health issues, but was he was not sick. According to witnesses, he made it 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. Raymond Pontier, the car's driver, after using his Ventolin inhaler a few times to ease his shortness of breath, Bud seemed to nod off as the pair headed upriver toward Milanville. Once there, 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.

A day after Yule 1993, Bud's family privately interred his cremated remains on the Innisfree hillside, in a circle held around an ancient oak. A marker etched in native bluestone slate reads, with a quotation from the frontispiece of Kurt Vonnegut's contemporary novel, Bluebeard: “We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

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 ran on page 1 of The River Reporter on October 28, 1993:

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 collect funds, still in the name of the Bud Rue Memorial Fund for Social Justice. 

Two years later, on November 2, 1995, this article appeared in The River Reporter:

'Faith with feet': Rue memorial draws a crowd

By TOM RUE

MILANVILLE, PA -- About 40 people gathered to walk 10 kilometers in the third annual Walk for Social Justice, sponsored by the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

The walk along the Delaware River from Narrowsburg to Milanville on October 22 was dedicated to the memory of Clyde "Bud" Rue, organizer of the walkathon, who died during the 1993 walk.

In addition to fellowship members and supporters of the various charities, participants included Rue's children and grandchildren as well as his brother, Dr. Robert Rue of Niantic, Ct. He said he made the trip from New England to honor his brother, who with him supported similar social agendas.

The youngest participant was 11-month-old David Rue Jr. of Newtown, Pa, whose parents, David and Kathy Rue, took turns pushing his stroller up River Rd. The oldest was Jessie Fisher, 79, of White Mills, a longtime member of Habitat for Humanity.

The evening after the walk Ann Rue, Bud's widow, said $2860 had been collected - with many pledges not yet in. Ella Rue-Eyet of Ringoes, NJ, said the total gave organizers hope that this year's revenues would exceed amounts collected in the past...

In February 1995, a sum of $1000 was presented to each of four charities. This year's proceeds will be distributed in February 1996.

The number of walkers was also up from last year, from 30-35 to 45, Ann Rue said.

Sweeping back and forth to pick up the tired were Fellowship president Joe Walker of North Branch and vice-president Jesse Ballew of Damascus.

Walker called the event "an appropriate tribute to Bud Rue."

Rue died October 24, 1993, at the age of 59.

Afterward, the fellowship resolved to hold similar events named in his memory. "It was started by Bud to address the social inequities he saw in the river valley," said Ann Rue. "It's been continued as a tribute to his efforts and to keep alive the principles he held to be important."

This year the Fellowship designated a fifth beneficiary -- Habitat for Humanity of Sullivan County. Other target groups include the Wayne County Habitat chapter, which Bud Rue founded in 1990; Interfaith Outreach United (IOU) of Callicoon; Victim's Intervention Program (VIP) of Honesdale; and the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, a nongovernmental organization that fosters the Unitarian Universalists' social agenda globally.

Before the walk, at a regular Fellowship service in Milanville, representatives of the five groups explained their organizations' progress, including Tom Hubers of IOU, Sandi Panchyshyn of the Sullivan Habitat, Pearl Hochstadt of the Wayne Habitat, Denise Gumble of VIP, and John Rue, who spoke about the UN office and described the walkathon as a demonstration of "faith with feet."

Donations to the Fund for Social Justice may be mailed to PO Box 123, Milanville, PA 18443.

[PHOTO CAPTION]
Pictured above are the immediate family of the late Bud Rue (right to left), back row: David Rue, Tom Rue, Bob Woldin, Dr. Bob Rue, John Rue; front row: Kathleen Rue holding David Rue, Jr., Carmen Rue, Ella Rue-Eyet, Ann Rue holding dog Farfel.
 

This table appeared on the fellowship's former website at uduuf.org during 2008:

Since the above table, the UDUUF has continued to raise funds and make annual donations to local charities, on average about $5,000.00 per year. During the most recent year, a significantly larger than usual collection of donations was distributed to human service and social justice groups from the coffers of the 35-year-old liberal religious congregation, which currently (2024) meets in Narrowsburg. This distribution included both "Bud Rue Fund" donations and contributions from certificates of deposit which the UDUUF had accumulated over the years: 

Tax-deductible donations to the 2024 Bud Rue Memorial Fund for Social Justice may be addressed to "Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship" (mark the memo portion of the check "BRM Fund") at PO Box 47, Narrowsburg, New York 12764.

Back: Chapter 9 - Giving back | Next: Chapter 11 - Back to the earth