Obituary for Reuben R. Ryder
Reuben Ryder passed away at the age of 73 on Sunday, October 6th, 2019 from natural causes. He is survived by those to whom he dedicated his life, loving wife Maria Di Giacomantonio and son Samuel.
Reuben was born on July 18th, 1946 in Astoria, Queens; raised in Dumont, NJ; and settled in his idyllic home containing a fireplace beside a then dirt road in Cornwall, NY on the edge of Black Rock Forest. He worked for 35 years as a civil servant helping misfortuned children and their families through the more difficult challenges of life for the Division of Youth and Family Services in Jersey City, NJ.
A man who could best be described as a student of life spent his available moments teaching himself design, carpentry, and building. Reuben designed several additions to his home and with the help of family and friends self-actualized through their building, including a three story hexagonal structure that from top to bottom served as master bedroom, dining room centered by an oval table of his own design and build, and finally a wine cellar to hold vintages he would collect as well as wines of his own making.
However, Reuben was most at home in the natural beauty of the outdoors. He was an avid cyclist but also loved to take his time in the forests of the northeast from New York to the north Maine woods foraging for mushrooms, identifying birds, and wading in quiet streams and rivers to fly fish for trout. All the while taking in the peaceful passing moments of beauty that would always make him remark, “It is being there.”
Autumn twilight. Ah!
The rain, alone, is sounding
On the dried up leaves.
- Reuben Ryder 1980
Arrangements were entrusted to Quigley-Sullivan Funeral Home, Inc.; to send condolences, please go to www.Quigleybros.com
Reuben was born on July 18th, 1946 in Astoria, Queens; raised in Dumont, NJ; and settled in his idyllic home containing a fireplace beside a then dirt road in Cornwall, NY on the edge of Black Rock Forest. He worked for 35 years as a civil servant helping misfortuned children and their families through the more difficult challenges of life for the Division of Youth and Family Services in Jersey City, NJ.
A man who could best be described as a student of life spent his available moments teaching himself design, carpentry, and building. Reuben designed several additions to his home and with the help of family and friends self-actualized through their building, including a three story hexagonal structure that from top to bottom served as master bedroom, dining room centered by an oval table of his own design and build, and finally a wine cellar to hold vintages he would collect as well as wines of his own making.
However, Reuben was most at home in the natural beauty of the outdoors. He was an avid cyclist but also loved to take his time in the forests of the northeast from New York to the north Maine woods foraging for mushrooms, identifying birds, and wading in quiet streams and rivers to fly fish for trout. All the while taking in the peaceful passing moments of beauty that would always make him remark, “It is being there.”
Autumn twilight. Ah!
The rain, alone, is sounding
On the dried up leaves.
- Reuben Ryder 1980
Arrangements were entrusted to Quigley-Sullivan Funeral Home, Inc.; to send condolences, please go to www.Quigleybros.com