Obituary of James Rudy

Sadly, James “Jimmy” Rudy of Pine Island passed away on Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at Good Samaritan Hospital with his beloved wife at his side holding his hand. Jimmy, the first-born son of the late Harold and Lena Ruhl Rudy was born on January 6, 1946 in Goshen, NY and he always said he was a day older than his twin brother Jack who was born on January 7th.

He was a lifelong member of St. Peter Lutheran Church, member of the Church Council and helped with the Church’s Food Pantry especially with the picking up of food from the Food Bank and with food distribution.

Jimmy attended the Warwick Schools and graduated from Warwick Valley High School in 1964.  He served in the United States Army and spent his entire Service time at Fort Sills Oklahoma teaching the newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenants to shoot cannons.  His goals after his discharge from the Army were to join the Rinky Dinks Hunting Club and the Amity Fire Company and he did both. 

He worked for the New York State Department of Transportation as a Heavy Equipment Operator for over 37 years.  He was a 56-year member of the Amity Fire Company, a member of the Pine Island Fire Department, Captain of the Pine Island Fire Police, member of the Orange County Fire Police Association, Orange County Veteran Firemen's Association and the Orange County Firemen’s Association. Jimmy was an associate member of the Greenwood Lake American Legion.

My Honey enjoyed fishing and hunting and always had a story about his catches.  

Jimmy is survived by his twin brother, John “Jack” Rudy and his daughter Jacklyn and her family, his daughter Tammy Cutler and her husband Bill and their children Brittany and David. On May 14, 1988, Jimmy married Paulette Wilk whom he affectionately called “My Honey” who survives him.  He is survived by his cousin who was like a brother, Alexander Paffenoth and wife Linda, their daughters Amanda and his Godchild Deanne Paffenroth and her husband Jon Kobrick and their children AJ, Ryan and Samantha.  He is survived by the many Rudy and Ruhl cousins. He is also survived by his brother-in-law Bob Sholes who was his monthly gambling partner and his children Paul and Charlette Sholes, Brenda and Steven Zappolo and their sons, Christopher, Jonathan, and Nicholas and Brian and Kristina Sholes and their sons Matthew, Colin, and Ryan as well as a slew of Uszenski and Wilk cousins.

My Honey was very community minded especially within the firematic community. Please no flowers, instead consider making a memorial donation to any Orange County Fire Organization of your choice, a local food pantry, the Disabled American Veterans, or to Back Pack Snack Attack.

Visitation will be held on Friday, July 10^th from 4-8pm at T.S. Purta Funeral Home, 690 County Route# 1, Pine Island, NY 10969. Firematic services will be held 7:30PM at the funeral home.

Funeral Service will be held 11AM Saturday, July 11^th at St. Stanislaus Church, Pine Island. Burial to follow in St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Pine Island.

The family would like to thank the staff at St. Stanislaus Church, who took the time to get permission to use the church, due to its large capacity, for Jimmys Lutheran Services.