It is with sadness that GLSKA marks the passing of another long-time GLSKA member, Rudi Rauch, on April 29, 2014, at the age of 89.
Rudi’s association with the sea goes back to the late stages of World War II when he served as submariner on a German U-boat. His crew surrendered when they were depth-charged in Halifax harbour and Rudi served out the rest of the war in a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp. He liked Canada so much that following repatriation after the war he emigrated here.
Rudi lived in Hamilton and was a long-time friend of GLSKA founding member Stephen Threlkeld, who also died recently. He joined GLSKA in the early 1990s and was an active participant in club activities, especially conservation matters. He was part of the group that created GLSKA’s Georgian Bay Committee and was actively involved with the committee for over a decade, representing GLSKA at the Great Lakes Water Trails Conference in 1996, leading GLSKA’s involvement in the provincial government’s Lands for Life process, and playing an instrumental role in establishing thunderboxes at campsites on the islands of eastern Georgian Bay. Rudi was also an active member of the Halton Outdoor Club.
Rudi was, as his friend and fellow GLSKA member Ernie Roth said, “a real gentleman.” He will be fondly remembered by all of us who had the pleasure to share the great outdoors with him.
