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| Issue 022/2005 |
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7809 Eric Ruff Due to Retire Eric Ruff of the Class of '68 will be retiring as Director/Curator of the Yarmouth County Historical Society and Museum after some 32 years of service. A grand "roast" has been scheduled for October 19th so that members of the community and others can celebrate the career of this incredible personality. The most photographed individual in Southwest Nova Scotia a few years ago, Eric gained exceptional celebrity when he agreed to have his beard of 32 years shaved off if the museum expansion campaign leaders were able to raise $100,000.00. They did and he did. In addition to his work with the local museum, which under his direction has earned many awards and completed an extensive expansion program, Eric has also directed the Yarmouth Shantymen, a group of ten male singers who perform traditional sea songs acappella at various functions throughout the year. Eric founded the group some twenty-one years ago. He had been a member of the RMC Glee Club. Eric, with wife Barbara, is an avid birder, organizing the local Christmas bird count for many years now. Recently Eric qualified as a motorcycle operator and currently is re-exploring options towards purchasing a suitable machine for himself. Wife Barb will not be joining him on this adventure. Eric served with the Royal Canadian Navy until his release prior to coming to Yarmouth. Congratulations and Best Wishes can be forwarded directly to Eric at ebruff@ns.sympatico.ca. 5472 James Colbeck 5472 James Colbeck of the Class of '62 retired this past June along with wife Lori with whom he celebrated 25 years of marriage on August 1st in Ottawa. The Colbecks also live in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia . James has been a junior high school art and English teacher these past 18 years after enjoying faculty positions at such institutions as the Opera School (Faculty of Music, University of Toronto), St. Francis Xavier University, and George Brown College, and continuously plying his trade as a graphic designer, cartoonist, illustrator and theatre designer wherever he has been located. Logos are a specialty. James has enjoyed a considerable reputation for his theatrical endeavours as a director/ designer/playwright and puppet enthusiast. One play, written in 1996 and premiered the following year in Yarmouth, will be staged this November (10th to 13th) in Milford, Prince Edward County, Ontario in a new community production at the Mount Tabor Playhouse. A member of the Glee Club while at RMC, James keeps his hand in, as it were, as a member of Eric Ruff's Yarmouth Shantymen. James and Lori have five children, four of whom make their homes with their families in Ontario. They also will be blessed with a fifth grandchild shortly (in mid-October). James served both with the Second Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment in London, Ontario and with the First Battalion in Westphalia, Germany, as well as being seconded briefly to the U.S. Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. While in Germany, James designed four regimental baptism windows for the two chapels at Fort York. Three of these windows are now displayed in the RCR Regimental Museum at Wolseley Barracks in London, Ontario. James' e-mail address is proffoss@ns.sympatico.ca.... proffoss stands for "Professor Fossil", a name given James by one of his less "satisfied" art students one day. James liked it so much, to the annoyance of that student, that he adopted it for his e-mail. |
