Timothy Lee Ruddy Obituary (1947

Timothy Lee Ruddy, 67, of Normal, passed away at 4:55 a.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2015 at Heritage Health in Normal. Funeral services will be held at 2pm on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at Holy Trinity Church, Bloomington, with Rev. Jeffery J. Windy officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to services. Carmody-Flynn Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Tims children would like to invite family and friends to join them for a celebration of Tims life from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Medici in Normal. rnTo express condolences online, please visitwww.carmodyflynn.com. Tim was born November 1, 1947 in Joliet, son of Raymond and Anna Mae Ostrem Ruddy. He was preceded in death by his parents, and brother, Richard Ruddy.Tim is survived by his older sister, Marianne (Don) Brooks of Joliet. Also surviving are three children, Emily Woods of Oswego, Ryan (Tara) Ruddy of Indian Harbour Beach, FL and Erin (Caleb Castillo) Ruddy of Chicago; three step-daughters, Victoria (Doug Pride) Van Kirk and Heather (Joseph) Summers, both of Chicago, and Kara (David) Levin of Brooklyn, NY. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, Dylan, Madelyn, Finley, Jeremiah, Isaac, Vivienne, Max Henry. rnIf you could judge a man by his book, film, and music collection it would be easy to ascertain that Tim was a captivating, intelligent, and charming man. His smile was brightest while spending time with his family, listening to Otis Redding, watching Casablanca (or any Bogart film for that matter), satisfying his sweet tooth, or taking in his daily dose of politics. He lived his life with a nostalgic connection to the past where his childhood was formed by equal parts tenderness and discipline. rnTim graduated from Marmion Academy, a military high school in Aurora, IL. His sense of adventure and educational aspirations led him to his undergraduate studies at University of South Carolina. After spending several post-college years as a free spirit he married and became a father to his first two children, Emily and Ryan. He pursued a masters degree from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and became a professor of Political Science.While at Northern, he married a second time and gained three step-daughters, Heather, Kara, and Victoria and became a father one last time to a little girl, Erin. Tims career led him to Illinois State University in the late 1980s where he enlightened, influenced, and challenged thousands of students during his career. rnTim would definitely say his most important occupation was fatherhood. He loved the job and it showed. Tim immensely enjoyed his part in bringing up a blended brood of six children and looked for every opportunity to infuse humor into a day and keep the journey remarkable and fun. He used cleverness and wit to teach his children to take risks and share in his sense of adventure. He helped his children to become curious and kindhearted individuals with the propensity to continuously seek knowledge from the world around them. rnTim has been a valuable fixture in the Bloomington-Normal community where he could regularly be found in various businesses in Downtown (not Uptown) Normal conversing with and befriending many in the community, especially college students. He has many close friends who will always remember him as a charismatic and free-spirited man. He could be seen one day in a sport coat and the next day in a Hawaiian shirt, but EVERY day he donned his self-proclaimed incredible head of red hair. His great love for life, friends, family, and especially for his childrenand grandchildren will undoubtedly live on and he will be missed always.