Charles V. Ruffenach | Funeral director, 80
Charles V. Ruffenach, 80, of Berwyn, a retired funeral director and Amtrak employee, died Monday at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester of a stroke.
Charles V. Ruffenach, 80, of Berwyn, a retired funeral director and Amtrak employee, died Monday at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester of a stroke.
Mr. Ruffenach grew up in South Philadelphia, where his father operated a funeral home. He was a graduate of Southeast Catholic High School, now St. John Neumann, and Eckels College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia. In 1947, he began working for the Pennsylvania Railroad while assisting in his father's business.
Mr. Ruffenach remained with the railroad after establishing his own funeral home in Berwyn in 1967.
After the break-up of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Mr. Ruffenach was a block operator for Amtrak, directing trains from railroad towers. He retired from Amtrak in 1990 and closed his funeral home three years ago.
Mr. Ruffenach collected model trains and rode Harley-Davidson motorcycles in his younger years. Later he enjoyed vacationing in a motor home with his wife, Anne Taulane Ruffenach.
For many years, he refereed his extended family's annual Thanksgiving Day football game, "The Ruffenach Turkey Bowl," in Drexel Hill.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Ruffenach is survived by sons Charles and William; daughter Suzanne Nelson; a brother; a sister and three grandchildren.
A Funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. Monica Church, 63 Main Ave., Berwyn. Friends may call from 9:15 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.