Sep 26, 2006 By Rebekah Sungala 3 min read

A Point Marion Borough resident for more than 40 years, Louis E. Rudolph Sr. served his community well. “He always wanted to help people,” said Rudolph’s son, Thomas B. Rudolph of Point Marion. “At one time or another he was president of everything. I don’t know how he found time to do it all.”

Friends of Rudolph said the borough and its residents will miss the 83-year-old man, whose r?sum? holds a long list of former jobs: borough mayor, councilman, volunteer fireman, funeral director and veteran.

Rudolph, who friends referred to as “Bud,” passed away Sunday at home following an extended illness, leaving many loved ones behind.

“Everyone knew him,” Thomas Rudolph said.

Rudolph was born in Bobtown and graduated from the now-former Point Marion High School in 1942, before serving as a U.S. Navy Air Corps pilot in World War II. He returned to Point Marion in 1964, after attending mortuary school and became the owner and funeral director of the Louis E. Rudolph Funeral Home.

In addition to his other responsibilities, Rudolph served on borough council for several years before he was elected mayor of the borough during the 1980s, holding the post for 10 years.

Thomas Rudolph said he remembers the flood of November 1985 that devastated most of the downtown and how his father, who was mayor at the time, worked countless hours restoring the borough.

“He spent a lot of hours working for the borough, even though he had damage done to the funeral home,” Thomas Rudolph said.

Borough Councilman Alfred Dubois, who served with Rudolph in the 1980s, said the former mayor handled the catastrophe well.

“It was a time of stressful things for many people, and he handled it well. He did well for the borough,” Dubois said.

In addition to working for the borough, both Rudolph and Dubois knew each other through the Point Marion Fire Department, where both served as volunteer firefighters.

“Up until almost the end, Bud was coming to Bingo every Monday night, helping out in one way or another,” Dubois said. “We had company pictures taken a few weeks ago, and I had the honor of sitting next to him in the picture.”

Whenever Rudolph wasn’t busy doing borough business, working or volunteering at the fire department, he liked to be outside, either hunting or golfing, his son said.

“He was an avid hunter and a very, very avid golfer,” Thomas Rudolph said. “He took great pride in the fact that he was a left-handed golfer.”

Dubois said that Rudolph had a lot of friends because he knew how to work, how to have fun and was willing to help anyone at anytime.

“Bud was a fine gentleman,” Dubois said. “I’m very sorry for his family, because he was such a good man, he really was. I’m going to miss him.”

Friends will be received in the Louis E. Rudolph Funeral Home, 15 Main St., Point Marion, today from 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday from 2 to 9 p.m. and on Thursday until 10:30 a.m., when prayers will be said in the funeral home.

A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 11 a.m. in St. Hubert Roman Catholic Church. Interment will be in Evergreen Memorial Park, Point Marion. Full military rites and honors will be accorded at graveside by the Point Marion Veterans of Foreign Wars Post and the American Legion.