Margaret M. Ruhlmann, community leader
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Dec. 25, 1928—Nov. 11, 2009
Margaret M. Ruhlmann, a Lockport community leader and retired Army officer, died Wednesday in St. John’s Home, Rochester. She was 80.
Born Margaret McCarthy in New York, Mrs. Ruhlmann graduated from Hunter College in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Mrs. Ruhlmann was appointed a second lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corps and served during the Korean War. She attended the Provost Marshal General’s School at what was then Camp Gordon, Ga., where she was trained in various military police subjects, including weapons handling, investigations, judo and military law.
In 1954, Mrs. Ruhlmann was assigned to duty in Los Angeles as a recruiting officer and in 1956 was sent to Japan to serve as a member of the 1st Calvary Division and was the commanding officer of the WAC detachment at Fort Gordon.
She moved to Lockport in 1958 after marrying Raymond E. Ruhlmann Jr. He died in 2007 after 48 years of marriage.
An original member of the Lockport School District’s Committee on the Handicapped, Mrs. Ruhlmann also served with the American Red Cross Emergency Response Team.
At St. Mary Catholic Church, she provided religious instruction to children and also served as a Eucharistic minister for 25 years. Also, she was an active member of her book club.
A member of the Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association and the American Legion, Mrs. Ruhlmann was also a member of the 42nd Rainbow Division Daughters of America—the same unit her father served in during World War I.
Surviving are a son, Marine Col. Raymond E. III, and a daughter, Ellen Marie.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a. m. Saturday in St. Mary Church, 5 Saxton St., Lockport. Prayers will be said at 10:30 in Prudden& Kandt Funeral Home, 242 Genesee St., Lockport.
Published: November 20, 2009, 12:30 am