Ron Rude grew up on a dairy farm near Blair, Wisconsin, a town of about one thousand inhabitants where, during his youth, Norwegian was still the language of choice for street corner conversations. His Norwegian heritage, including close ties with relatives in Norway, brought him to that country for times for visits or vacations.
After completing his Bachelor’s degree, including a summer session studying Norwegian at Blindern campus of the University of Oslo, he spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal. There he served in agricultural development and living in a remote village on Nepal’s southern plain. He spent another year in Port Headland, Western Australia working for MacRobertson Miller Airlines. Shortly after returning to the U.S., he started a fourty-year career with the American Red Cross beginning with Disaster Services and ending with a chapter management position based in Sandusky, Ohio. He has since retired.
Ron and his wife Karen still live in Sandusky where he enjoys gardening, writing and volunteering for Sandusky Community Church of the Nazarene. Ron and Karen have four grown children, and currently, four great-grandchildren.