Lt. J.G. P. Russell Ruff (1910-1944)

RUFF, DUFFY, ELLIS

Posted By: John Davis (email)
Date: 3/23/2020 at 09:11:32

Obit posted in Ottumwa Courier August 18, 1944
Recover Lt. Ruff Body, Funeral Here Thursday
Photo posted with Obit
Funeral services for Lt. (JG) P. Russell Ruff, whose body had been recovered from the Atlantic ocean, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Lester Jay funeral home, with burial in Ottumwa cemetery. Official notice of the death of Lieutenant Ruff was received Monday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ruff of 142 South Cooper avenue. He was listed as missing in line of duty June 29, when a destroyer escort and a minesweeper collided of the Atlantic coast. Lieutenant Ruff was the executive officer aboard the minesweeper, the U.S.S. Valor, and was stationed at the Naval frontier base at Newport, R.I. He was born January 8, 1910 in Ottumwa and was an outstanding athlete in the Ottumwa high school, where he was graduated in 1927. While attending Grinnell college he was captain of the varsity basketball team and gained fame as a football passer. He was active on the campus as president of the student council, chairman of the house council and a member of the Honor-G athletic fraternity. He was graduated from Grinnell college in 1931. He also attended the University of Iowa, Northwestern university and received his master’s degree from Colorado State college of education in 1942. Before enlisting in the Navy, he coached at Greenfield, Villisca and Atlantic high schools. While teaching at Lincoln high school at Des Moines in 1943 he was named prep coach of the year by sports writers. Lieutenant Ruff received his Naval indoctrination at the University of Arizona in Tucson and at Fort Schuyler at New York City. He is survived by his wife, the former Marion Ellis of Maquoketa; his parents Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ruff and two sisters, Miss Virginia Ruff and Mrs. Carlos Duffy of Norfolk, Virginia.