The Revd Canon Norman Trevor Ruddock

Norrie (1935 – 2006)

“The Final Tee”

On a late Autumn day on 6th November when the sun shone so that it was more like High Summer the people of Ferns Diocese, Wexford and the wider circle paid their respects to a figure that had been central to the community for many years.

 

Here we offer our own acknowledgements on the colourful life of the man known to so many simply as “Norrie”. There is an account of the funeral service with a synopsis of the Address given by Fr. Jim Fegin and we also publish a special appreciation by the Dean of Ferns, the Very Revd Leslie D. Forrest.

NORMAN T. RUDDOCK:

Born in Carlow on 11th March 1935, Norman was one of three ordained brothers. His sister Gladys was Principal of Alexandra College and his brother John set up ‘Limerick Music'.

Having trained as a teacher, Norman taught in St. Andrew's College Dublin, Fethard on Sea and Donegal. 

His first curacy was in St. Stephen’s in Belfast where he was ordained deacon in 1958 and priest in 1959. His second curacy was in Lesson Park, Dublin from 1960 – 63.
He spent a time ministering in America 1969-71 and on return worked with his long-time friend, Bishop Noel Willoughby, who was archdeacon in Glenageary. Norman was appointed as rector of Killane and Killegney 1973-81 and resigned his post to take up work with Cecil Kerr in the ministry of healing and evangelism.

Looking back to the relevant issue of the Diocesan Magazine he wrote that he hoped that his successor would be the man that God wanted and not the man than Man wanted!

He went on to become rector of Castlepollard from 1984 until he returned to become Rector of Wexford in 1993 and also became Chancellor and then Precentor of Ferns.
He retired in 2004 leaving a typically humorous list “Commandments” for his successor which included – knock on 12 doors a week, love all your parishioners, answer letters immediately, don’t forget the retired clergy they like a round of golf and wee dram occasionally!

Norman published ‘The Rambling Rector’ but the illness that he has valiantly fought off 13 years previously returned. Bishop Noel’s death last February was a tremendous blow to him as was the death of cancer his sister Daphne six months ago.
Norman will be remembered as a man of ecumenical conviction, a lover of art and music, a keen golfer (he was Captain last year of the Ferns Clergy Golf team, an ecumenical group of clergy) and as a phenomenal fund-raiser. He had a loved Wexford and its people and a had deep love of Jean his wife, his children Norman, Lynn, Karen and Julie and his grandchildren.

He will be remembered with affection by many.
He died peacefully in Wexford General Hospital after a long battle with cancer.

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FUNERAL SERVICE
His funeral Holy Communion Service and took place at St. Iberius’ Church Wexford with a congregation many of whom had to listen outside such was the number.

The Celebrant was The Right Revd Michael Burrows Bishop of Ferns and Preacher the Very Revd Jim Fegan, Adm. Rowe St. Church, Wexford.

The Revd Maria gave the greeting: “We have come here today to remember before God our dear brother Norman, to give thanks for his life, to leave him in the keeping of God his creator, redeemer and judge, and to comfort one another in our grief, in the hope that is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Therefore we pray that here today we may know the peace of Christ in communion with all God’s faithful servants”.

The hymns sung were “On Tiptoe I walk with you, my children”, “The King of love my Shepherd is”, “Pour out thy Spirit from on high”, “Love divine, all loves excelling”, “Thine be the Glory, risen, conquering Son”, and “One there is above all others; O how he loves!” followed the Communion.

The Readings by the family were from Isaiah 61 v 1-3 and1 Corinthians 13 v 1-13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal...”  The Gospel Reading was taken from  John, 6 v 35 beginning  “Then  Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.…” 

ADDRESS (abridged):

Fr. Fegan took his text from the letter of St Paul to the Romans we read “The life and death of each of us has it’s influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord.” Which words, he said, summed up very well the life, and indeed death of Norman Ruddock. Everyone is the poorer for his passing; to be in his presence was an education.

The way that Norman met the challenge of his illness was an inspiration to all and showed clearly the essence of the man. Fr. Jim would never forget last Sunday as Norman was prepared for surgery the way that he embraced with great faith and courage what were to be his last moments. His death, although sudden in the end was like Norman himself, unique, unique because he was afforded an opportunity to say important things to the people who meant most to him in his life, namely, his wife Jean and their family, and as he was leaving intensive care he turned to Jean and Bishop Burrows and myself and began to sing “I’m in heaven I’m in heaven and there’s no where else on earth I rather be,” and the last line concludes “and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak and I seem to find the happiness I seek”. For if we die we belong to the Lord.

Norman Ruddock lived his earthly life and ministry to the full, he enjoyed every moment of every day, he was blessed with many talents and gifts. The generosity of spirit that was the hallmark of Norman, enabled him to share his gifts and talents with so many people and various organisations along the road of life, not least of all he made history by being the first Church of Ireland Rector to become captain of the Ferns Clerical Golf Society.

As the Rector in St. Iberius he threw open the doors of this church and welcomed all the people of Wexford town, county and beyond. His faith, his foresight, and his ecumenical commitment were the driving force which welcomed here to this place, Music for Wexford, the Arts with Wexford Festival Opera and the Christmas Fast. Events which brought the activities of Wexford’s Main Street into the church and the church out onto the Main Street.

He remembered the great fun they had together during the four day fast when they both got great laughs out of people asking the same questions, are you hungry, do you eat nothing at all. One year Norman said why don’t we put up a notice which answers all these questions. Or indeed watching people slip by on the other side so as not to have to give anything but true to form on their way back Norman would always shout over how are you, naming who ever, just letting them know we had recognised their plan of action. The fast in particular gave and continues to give silent yet tangible witness to ecumenism something of which Norman and Fr. Jim were very proud of although he never used the word ecumenism as he saw all this work as common sense. It is a great testament that the Revd Maria the Rector here at St. Iberius’ and Norman’s successor is also very committed to these very important ecumenical gestures. 

Norman Ruddock will also be remembered for being a man of great integrity. Someone who at all times stood up for justice and fair play. As the late Bishop Noel Willoughby his good friend once said “Norman was not the kind of priest to stay in safe harbour but he had always gone fishing in the deep reaching out to fishermen in other boats along the way”.  If there was something to be said, then Norman was the one to say it, but always in a spirit of justice and fair play. He was a man who never failed to challenge and inspire; to irritate and encourage; to lead and envision.

Jean, Karen, Lynn, Julie, Norman and his sister Gladys and brothers Reg, John, Charley, Ken, and the extended family of grandchildren and relatives today have thier own fragments of Norman’s life that will help you to keep his memory alive. Norman, that fun-loving and joy-filled man, sitting in his own chair and the one thousand and one ordinary things that didn’t seem to  matter that much but in the future will frame the memories of the husband and father and brother and grandfather that Norman was to them. 

Wexford, and in particular all the communities and people of Wexford town and beyond, will also have their memories of the enormous contribution Norman Ruddock made as a loyal and loving priest and a true and genuine friend of people no matter what their colour or creed. For his dedication his expertise his care and his tireless efforts to advance true ecumenism, we give thanks.

So, although sad, the gift of God that he gave to us in the life of Norman is being returned and his family and friends have lost an irreplaceable jewel. Memories of his booming voice, his happy outlook and wit and his smiling face will never be buried.

It is right that to mourn a loving husband, father and grandfather and brother but for Norman it is in a real sense a home-coming. And there will too in time be something of an Easter joy, based not on what is felt here today but on Norman’s faith in the resurrection of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  May he rest in peace. Amen.

The service was followed with burial in Killurin graveyard where Norrie was laid to rest beside his brother Billy.

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In Appreciation of Canon Norman Ruddock

by

The Very Revd Leslie D. Forrest, Dean of Ferns

A bearded figure with a smile always playing around his eyes, he seemed taller than he was. Perhaps that had to do with the size of his heart. For Norman Ruddock was big-hearted, compassionate, caring and articulate. He lived by that hymn he so loved and which we sang in an overflowing St. Iberius’ Church at his funeral: “Pour out thy Spirit from on high”. Yes, God poured out his Spirit upon his servant Norman in no small measure. As he ran his parish and cared for those committed to his charge ‘he taught the truth’ ‘with firmness and meekness’.

Norman, as all who knew him, and indeed those who got to know him through ‘The Rambling Rector’, can testify, was his own man; uncompromising, sometimes awkward, challenging, but true to the Gospel he proclaimed. He had no hidden agendas. He was a priest given the task of leading people in worship, nurturing them in the faith, visiting them in their homes or in hospital, and being alongside them through testing times. His was an inclusive ministry. Meanness annoyed him. Exclusiveness appalled him. He was loved and known across the community of Wexford and further afield. He was an ecumenist through and through. Using music and art and every possible means, he brought the Church of Ireland into the community and the community into the life of St. Iberius’.

As the mayor of Wexford and Bishop Brendan Commiskey and golfing friends, clerical colleagues and neighbours called to his home to pay their respects it was clearly no formal duty but a real desire to show the love and affection in which he was held. A friend, who had never met Norman but who had read his book, rang me to offer his condolences and said how much he admired him through his writings and how much he would have loved to have known this ‘remarkable and caring man’.

It has been my privilege to have known him over many years. We first met in the 70s when he was my sister-in-law’s rector in Killanne and I was rector in Donegal and he invited me to preach for him. When we both found ourselves back in Wexford in the 90s our friendship deepened as we served as colleagues in the Diocese and in the Cathedral Chapter of which he was Precentor prior to his retirement – a role to which his great musical skills and love of music entirely equipped him. But he was much more than a good and close friend. He was great company, a great storyteller – although he did repeat them at times! – with a wicked sense of humour; and a good golfing teacher – he did his best to make me a golfer! As Fr. Jim reminded us, one of Norman’s proudest achievements was as Captain of the Ferns Clerical Golfing Association of which he was the first Church of Ireland member.

On various golf courses we sorted out the affairs of the Church and the world. One of those ‘affairs’ at which we ultimately failed was our effort to retain the Palace in Kilkenny. He was deeply saddened when our best efforts failed. But he moved on. That was important to him. But of much greater importance was his battle against cancer, and, his campaign for increased cancer care. Valiantly he fought against ill health and he always seemed to be winning the battle. The mischievous glint was in his eye to the end. Those ‘black-tie’ dinner dances in Ferrycarrig for Hospice and Cancer Care were wonderful and successful occasions as were his Christmas Fasts outside St. Iberius’ with Fr. Jim. When his great friend and golfing companion Bishop Noel Willoughby died exactly nine months before him, he was heart-broken. They shared so much and gave so much. When, over so many years, Bishop Brendan and Bishop Noel worked alongside each other, ecumenism in this part of the world seemed to be a step ahead of everywhere else. And Norman was very much part of that.

Norman, for all his public involvement, was very much a family man. One could never imagine Norman without Jean to laugh ‘with’ him and ‘at’ him. Lynn, Julie, Norman and Karen, together with Tom and Larry, Penn and Jonathan and all the grandchildren made the house always a place of activity and liveliness. Indeed, I’m sure his wonderful children’s addresses reflected his love for children and his ability to reach out to young and old alike. All baptised by Norman were written an invaluable ‘letter’ for life and for living.

He lived life to the full from his earliest days. One of a family of eight, he is survived by his sister Gladys and his brothers Reg and John, Ken and Charlie and predeceased by Billy and Daphne. His wonderful address at his much-loved sister Daphne’s funeral only months ago was in a sense his own epitaph.

I offer my tribute to a dear friend and colleague and my love and sympathy to all the family circle and especially to Jean and to Gladys – the last to go golfing with him.

It’s appropriate that Norman should have left us within the octave of All Saints. This season reminds us of the great company of heaven which Norman went to join on 6th November with a song on his lips as he met with angels and archangels. I just hope the heavenly choir enjoys jazz.

 

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