Gertrude Rudiak

GERTRUDE SYLVIA RIGHTMAN-RUDIAK
Born Aug. 2, 1915, Gertrude's long life traversed American history from WWI, women's suffrage and stagecoach mail, through 18 Presidents and all else that transpired for over a century.
On Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, at the age of 105, she succumbed, at home, to a final, short illness, embraced by those who loved her. The family mourns a matriarch who was the glue to an extended family, who hosted an uncountable number of family functions in her home, was a treasured wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, Bauba (grandma), and great-grandma. She was a Jewish community leader and philanthropist with thousands of hours of volunteer work, including 40+ years of working every election until her health stopped her. She allowed her children to play soccer down the hall, her granddaughter to roller skate all over her hardwood floors, and loud teenagers to descend into the backyard pool.
Her detailed, chatty letters to friends and family were legendary, chronicling everything from her many trips to the antics of her dog or pool skimmer.
She had a new joke for every time you walked through her back door. Known for a quick wit, Gertrude might lovingly jest with a departing guest, "Come again, when you can't stay so long." The family joked it might live on as an epitaph on her tombstone.
Gertrude had an adventurous, curious spirit with eclectic interests and talents, game to try almost anything, such as art modeling to help pay her way through college, or learning to ski when she was 50. She regretted not learning to pilot a plane in the 1930's. She liked to travel, ski, cook, crochet, knit, needlepoint, write, and play piano or organ. She collected antiques and troll dolls, and enjoyed harvesting and processing the fruits of her orchard. She refused to accept aging and would climb a rickety old ladder to dry her fruit up on the roof, no matter the pleas for her to stop. She walked 2 miles a day, every day, all the way into her 90s.
She was very egalitarian, not easily awed by fame or power, moving as graciously amongst Presidents, Prime Ministers, Governors, and other high officials she knew or met, as with friends or fellow congregants at Temple Beth Sholom, which she joined in 1946.
Gertrude served in many traditional roles, such as Cub Scout den mother, volunteer for the Clark County Election Board, and temple organist. However, she was also known for breaking "glass ceilings" and the societal norms of her day. She sat on male dominated Boards of Directors, when that was virtually unheard of, headed organizations such as University Women and B'nai Brith, and pushed back against sexist, cultural constraints, such as the right for women to wear pants when it simply "was not done."
A 77-year resident of Las Vegas, Gertrude and her husband of 53-years, Attorney, Assemblyman, and Civil Rights Commissioner George Rudiak, helped create multiple commercial, educational and health facilities. These included the Strip's Tam O'Shanter Motel, Valley Hospital, and the Hebrew Academy.
Gertrude's many lifetime civic honors included two rare and prestigious Keys to the City of Las Vegas and multiple "Gertrude Rudiak Days", some granted jointly with her husband, by both the City of Las Vegas and the State of Nevada. Mayor Carolyn Goodman kindly wrote the family, "I know she lived her 105 years to the fullest."
She was often celebrated for her work with the elderly. Her leadership roles in civic, humanitarian, educational, social, and philanthropic causes benefited thousands of people both in Las Vegas and in Israel. George and Gertrude's names were inscribed on the Founders Wall at Givat Ram Campus of the University of Jerusalem, as members of the Society of Founders. They also created an annual scholarship program for worthy recipients of all races at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Gertrude was born in Dickinson, N.D. to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Dr. Nachman and Molke Kelber-Rightman, and had the Jewish name Gitel Sluva on her birth certificate. As a little girl she lived in Wausau, WI, before moving, along with her siblings David and Sarah, to Ontario, CA in 1924. She graduated from UC Berkeley, majoring in music, went to business college, then worked multiple jobs during the Great Depression, including social worker and IBM key punch operator. She prided herself on always finding work when jobs were scarce.
Married in 1942, the Army Air Force then sent her husband to Las Vegas in 1943, where they finally settled and reared five children, Geri Rudiak-Rentchler (survived by husband John Rentchler), Andrew Rudiak (survived by wife Enid Sanders), David (wife Roberta Gould), Richard (wife Susan Selbst), and Robert "Arthur" Rudiak (wife Mary). She is further survived by eight grandchildren--Dani Ramage, Valerie Jobrack, Andrea Londoño, Benjamin, Peter, and Nathaniel Rudiak-Gould, Kimberly Jones, and Rose Rudiak—plus nine great-grandchildren--Alexander, Jayson, and Adam Ramage, Adrian and Emily Jobrack, Linnea and Talia Londoño, Jonah and Kai Barnes Rudiak, and Pepper Jones.
On Monday, December 7, 2020, a viewing will be held at Bunkers Eden Vale Mortuary, 925 Las Vegas Blvd North, commencing at 1:00 PM. Gertrude will be interred next to her husband at nearby Woodlawn Cemetery at 2:00 pm. (People wishing to attend should contact the family because of Covid crowd size restrictions.)