Rush, Rodney J., 56, March 28, 2015. Visiting hours are Thursday, April 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Staples Funeral Home, Gardiner, with the Elks Memorial Ceremony included at 7 p.m. Services will be held Friday at 1 p.m. at the Maine Veterans Cemetery, Augusta, followed by a celebration of life at the Gardiner Elks Lodge 1293, Gardiner. Arrangements by Staples Funeral Home, Gardiner.
Rodney J. Rush, 56, of Pittston, passed away unexpectedly March 28, 2015, with his loving wife by his side.
Rodney was born October 6, 1958, in Houlton, beloved son of Frances M. Rush and Keith G. Melvin. He attended school in Houlton where he excelled in hockey and graduated from Houlton High School in 1976. He attended St. Francis College and enlisted in the Air Force in 1979, spending the last 16 years aboard the C-130 as an Airborne Communications Systems Instructor.
After retiring from the Air Force in 1999, he retuned to Maine and started his second career with the State of Maine. He was an active member of Elks Lodge 1293, serving three years as Exaulted Ruler and was a member of American Legion Post 4. Rodney was dedicated to veteran’s causes.
Family and friends were everything to Rodney. He was actively involved in community and charity events and no one will forget his memorable dinner theater performance as “Fifi the French Maid” complete with fishnet stockings and mustache!
Rodney had a passion for Sudoku where he could complete the hardest of puzzles using a pen. He was an expert competitive dart player, both feared and admired by equals, and humble enough to occasionally miss the mark when he thought it would raise the spirits of an opponent in a pick up game.
Rodney is survived by his wife and best friend, Anne-Marie; his sisters, Katrina Melvin and her partner, Judy, Elizabeth and Raymond Wagner, Deborah Melvin, brother Matthew Melvin; mother-in-Law, Sylvia and husband, Andre Fecteau; sisters- and brothers-in-law, Jane and Rick Varney, Charles and Ellen Cox, Carol and Mark Kontos, and Robert and Linda Cox, Anne Fecteau, Chris and Karen Fecteau; as well as beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends too numerous to list.
Visiting hours are being held on Thursday, April 2, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Staples Funeral Home, 55 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner, Maine with the Elks Memorial Ceremony included at 7 p.m.
Memorial services are being held Friday, April 3, 2015, at 1 p.m. at the Maine Veteran’s Cemetery, Civic Center Drive entrance, Augusta, Maine, immediately followed by a celebration of Rodney’s life at the Gardiner Elks Lodge 1293, 148 Cobbossee Ave. Gardiner, Maine.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to benefit various Veteran’s Charities, C/O Gardiner Elks Lodge 1293, 148 Cobbossee Ave., Gardiner, Maine 04345 in memory of Rodney J. Rush.
