Benjamin Edsel Ruddiman

Mr. Benjamin Edsel Ruddiman, 89, of Ocean Springs, died Saturday, September 30, 2006, in Ocean Springs. Mr. Ruddiman was born on January 10, 1917, in Dearborn, Michigan. He moved to Ocean Springs in 1963 after retiring as a mechanical engineer for Ford Motor Company in Michigan. He began a second career at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula as a fuel engineer, retiring in 1984. He delivered meals to shut-ins through the Lord Is My Help's Meals on Wheels program for a number of years and volunteered full time at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art where he was in charge of shipping for the museum store and the receiving and processing of new materials and taking inventory. He was twice named Volunteer of the Year at WAMA. He and his late wife, Mary, were very involved at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ocean Springs, participating in the church as well as the pre-school. In the late 1990s, he was recognized during the United Way of Jackson-George Counties annual VIP banquet for his outstanding volunteer service to the community. Edsel was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Bigelow Ruddiman, his brother, William Boddie Ruddiman, and his parents, Stanley and Camille Ruddiman, all of Ocean Springs. Survivors include his daughter, Kathi (Tim) Sweeney of Yamhill, Oregon, his grandchildren, Garnet Palmer of Beaverton, Oregon, and David Palmer and Melissa Palmer Quinn, both of Ocean Springs, two great-grandchildren, Phillip Lorenzen of Austin, Texas, and Timothy Quinn of Ocean Springs, and three nieces, Sarah (John) Seddelmeyer of Dallas, Texas, and Susan Ruddiman and Barbara Ruddiman, both of Ocean Springs. On Thursday, October 5, 2006, there will be a 3:30 PM memorial service at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ocean Springs. The family would prefer donations be made to Walter Anderson Museum of Art or to the Lord Is My Help, both in Ocean Springs. The Ocean Springs Chapel of Bradford O'Keefe Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.