Obituary of George A. Ruff

George A. Ruff, 105, of State College, died Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Born April 11, 1914 in Schuylkill Haven, he was the son of the late Alexander A. and Bessie C. Weiser Ruff. On September 18, 1941, he married Esther H. Peterson of Ridgeway, who died on June 22, 1998 after a thirteen-year bout with Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by two grandsons, Christopher J. Ruff and his wife, Aline Ruff of Gainesville, VA, and Tyler A. Ruff and his wife, Jennifer R. Ruff, of Orwigsburg and his great granddaughter Sydney R. Ruff. He was preceded in death by his son James P. Ruff. He graduated from Schuylkill Haven High School in 1932 and the Pennsylvania State College in 1936 with a B.S. degree in Chemistry. Upon graduation, he was employed by the United States Leather Company as a chemist at their laboratory located in Ridgeway. He was a member of the St. John's Lutheran Church and served on its council. He also organized Boy Scout Troop 89 and served as its first Scout Master. In 1943 he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard's Cadet-for-Reserve Commission Program (CRC7-43) and received his commission as an Ensign at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, CT in December 1943. After attending numerous service training schools and assignment to a patrol frigate pre-commissioning detail, he was transferred to the U.S. Navy Pre-radar School at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Radar School in Boston, MA. After this training he was assigned Staff Radar Officer of Escort Division 20. This Division was ordered to report to CruDesPac, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii for training exercises. That is where the Division was when Japan surrendered. Then the secret orders disclosed that Escort Division 20 was to be picked for the Escort Aircraft Carrier Makassar Strait (CVE 91) which was scheduled to be in the third wave in the invasion of Japan. The training exercises ceased and carried out weather station duties until ordered to report to the Boston Navy Yard for moth-balling before berthing at Green Cove Springs, FL. He was released from active duty in April 1946 and enrolled in the graduate school at The Pennsylvania State College hoping to get an M.S. degree in Physics specializing in acoustics. He remained active in the USCG Reserve and commissioned a USCG Organized Reserve Training Unit-Port Security (ORTUPS (03-82201) in Altoona on July 15, 1959 and served as its first commanding officer. On August 1, 1967, he completed twenty years of satisfactory service for retirement under Chapter 67, Title 10, US Code. When he retired from the Applied Research Laboratory in 1969 he was in charge of the laboratory's Black Moshannon Calibration Station. In compliance with his wishes, a private service will be held at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Grace Lutheran Church Building Program, 205 S. Garner Street, State College, PA 16801. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Condolences can be made to the family at www.kochfuneralhome.com.