Jack Cliff Rucker
Posted By Ballard Sunder Funeral Home On November 14, 2023 @ 11:01 am In 2023,Obituaries | 12 Comments
Jack Cliff Rucker, after a long fight with Alzheimer’s returned to God on November 5, 2023. He was surrounded by his loving family.
Jack was born January 12, 1944 in Red Wing, MN. He was the oldest of three to Quentin and Doris (Crow) Rucker. He grew up on the Oronoco family farm and attended Coon Grove Country School through 8th grade. Jack graduated from Pine Island High School in 1962. Football, FFA, and wrestling were his favorite school activities. At 17, Jack started driving truck for his grandfather, hauling livestock to South St Paul. While in high school, he went on his first date with Gail because of a dare from his football teammates. The dare paid off, and he married the love of his life, Gail Gustine, on September 29, 1963. They have two children: Cindy (Brian) Luhman and Ron (Karen) Peterson-Rucker. Jack and Gail are blessed with six grandchildren: Brandon (Tina) Rucker, Kamyn (Cody) PR-Nielsen, Keanan Peterson-Rucker, Mackenzie Luhman, Kaedyn Peterson-Rucker, Alyssa Luhman and 3 great grandchildren: Riley, Rhys, and Ayda Rucker. A fourth great grandchild is due March 2024.
Following high school graduation, Jack took over his grandfather’s trucking and added livestock feed to his business. In 1972, he became an over-the-road truck driver for Midwest Specialized Transportation until 1992. During that time, he put one million miles on just one truck. Jack then became a dispatcher at Midwest for another 8 years. After leaving Midwest, he bought his own dump truck and started Rucker Trucking and worked on the Highway 52 project. He retired in 2010 and recorded a total of over 4.5 million trucking miles.
Upon retiring, Jack enjoyed helping his brother and nephew on the farm with the spring and fall crops. Jack and Gail also enjoyed traveling in their camper. They took advantage of the Arizona weather and enjoyed spending winters there. Gatherings of family and friends was what made Jack the happiest. He is survived by his wife, Gail, his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, sister Janet Hague, brother Jim (Jeanie) Rucker, and nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be Saturday, December 2, 2023 at the Presbyterian Church of Oronoco from 10:00-11:00 am. Funeral will be held at 11:00 am followed by a Celebration of Life from 12:00-2:00pm at the Oronoco Community Center.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Presbyterian Church of Oronoco or the Alzheimer’s Association of Rochester.
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Deepest sympathy to the Rucker family. I’ll remember his smile. Diane and Ken DeBoer
Sorry for your loss. Prayers for comfort and peace.
Gail, Cindy, and Ron, your whole family is in our thoughts & prayer’s. I’m happy to have many good memories of Jack to share. He definitely will be missed, but not forgotten!
So sorry for loss . Prayers and Comfort for you and Family. Jack was a nice guy it was nice to talk to him and the hours went by fast . He will be Missed.
Condolences Gail and family each and every day for God’s comfort.
So sorry to hear about Jack’s death. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Sincerely, Darlene Riess
Sorry to hear this i ran with Jack a number of times and then he was my dispatcher till he switched to the van side. He was a stand up guy.
Sorry for your loss. I always enjoyed it when Jack would come in and get rock. He was also my husband dispatcher.
I will miss you very much, great grandpa! My prayers will have you in it!
Sincerely,
Rhys Rucker
We miss a lot Grandpa love you!
Jack was one of my favorite cousins. Jack was at Coon Grove when I started 1st grade in 1952. In 1955Jack said while we were eating our lunch on the front porch at Coon Grove school that he would like to change places with me. I said okay an walked over to where he was seating and he goes no I mean going to California. That when I found out I was moving and my parents were selling the farm and moving to California. We enjoyed seeing Jack on his trucking visits to LA and stopping by the house on our trips to Minnesota, Jane and I will deeply miss Jack and deepest sympathies to the family.
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Sorry for your loss Gail and family, was great meeting you in AZ.