ENGLISHTOWN – Officials in Englishtown are looking into creating a memorial for a late councilman who served the borough for more than three decades.
During a Borough Council meeting on Oct. 24, officials said they had received a letter from resident Marlene Rucker requesting a memorial in memory of her late husband Rudolph “Rudy” Rucker, who served on the council for more than 30 years.
Rucker, 68, died in 2016 several weeks after he resigned from the governing body.
As a member of the council, Rucker served as the public works chair who oversaw the Department of Public Works and the construction of a new building for the DPW, according to Mayor Thomas Reynolds.
Professionally, according to his obituary, he worked as a self-employed carpenter. He was an avid hunter and fisherman.
“Rudy was very proud and honored to have been on the Englishtown Borough Council and part of the governing process of the town for over 30 years,” Marlene Rucker wrote in her letter. “His time and dedication should always be remembered.”
To honor her husband’s service to Englishtown, Marlene Rucker asked for a park bench or a similar item to be placed on borough property as a memorial of his dedication.
Making note of Rucker’s background as a hunter and fisherman, Reynolds concurred with Marlene Rucker’s request to have a park bench dedicated in his memory and suggested that it be placed by the lake.
“We want to do something for the community,” Reynolds said.
The mayor recommended that a bench be constructed in Rucker’s memory and made with synthetic wood to avoid being damaged by rain.