RELIGIOUS SCHOOL NAMED FOR RUDDERMAN

In December, 1941, Edward Frank Rudderman became the first Bar Mitzvah of Temple Emanu-El. (EMANEWS, Vol. I, No. 1., Nov 27, 1941.)

Eighty years later, in December, 2021, the congregation recognized that special Shehecheyanu moment in our community’s history by naming the religious school in his honor.

The Edward F. Rudderman Religious School at Temple Emanu-El serves as an important reminder of our rich and cherished history in Dothan and southeast Alabama.

EDWARD FRANK RUDDERMAN

Edward Rudderman was born December 28, 1928, in Birmingham, Alabama to Abraham Morris Rudderman and Jennie (Turner) Rudderman.

In 1934, Edward moved from Bainbridge, Georgia to Eufaula, Alabama with his parents and younger brother, Philip, to establish Ruddy’s Department Store. After completing Eufaula High School, Rudderman graduated from the Georgia Military Academy. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 6, 1946. Rudderman was first assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia and later served in Japan. Following the completion of his service, Rudderman attended the Georgia Institute of Technology. (class photo: top)

Rudderman married Zipporah (Chippy) Gilmore of Blackshear, Georgia on February 15, 1953. Together, they had four daughters: Angela Jester (Prattville, AL); Marcia Eubanks (Albany, GA); Deana Shoupe (Lancaster, TX); and Pamela Rudderman (Albany, GA). Employment took him and his family through much of southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia. Rudderman worked in the dry good business and sold insurance.

Edward F. Rudderman died September 4, 1991, and was buried in the family plot in Fairview Cemetery in Eufaula, Alabama.

67 YEARS ON

In 2008, Abbey Lewis, daughter of Lisa and Mark Lewis, grand daughter of Sandra Gulledge, and great niece of Edward F. Rudderman, was Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El under the tutelage of Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A special thank you to Temple Emanu-El members, Sandra Gulledge and Debra Lisa Lewis, for their support, recollections, and personal photographs of their Uncle Eddie.

The Georgia Tech. class photograph was provided by The Blue Print, 1949 Annual, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ancestry.com.