Kenneth "Ken" F. Ruder, PHD

Kenneth F. Ruder, age 85, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother and uncle, died December 5, 2024 at his home in Colorado Springs, CO. Ken, the eldest of six children, was born in Hays, KS, to Nick and Hilda Ruder (Heronomie). He was raised on a farm where he learned the value of hard work and came to cherish his Catholic faith. He attended a one-room schoolhouse where he not only nurtured his own love for learning but acted as a teacher and mentor to younger classmates. These traits he was to sustain throughout his lifetime. 

In high school Ken was known for his good sense of humor and tricks at St. Francis Seminary in Victoria, KS and St. Joseph Military Academy in Hays. In college he initially majored in English then engineering before he transferred to Fort Hays State University, where he switched paths and graduated with a bachelor's degree in speech, language and hearing. Graduate work followed at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. There he pursued a master's degree and the affections of classmate Charlotte Collins. They married after their graduations in 1964.

At a rehabilitation center where he was employed, Ken wasn't satisfied with the knowledge available in his chosen field and wanted to perfect therapy procedures that would provide the best outcomes for his handicapped patients. He and Charlotte moved south where he entered the PhD program in psycholinguistics at the University of Florida, Gainesville. After earning his PhD in 1969, Ken accepted a position at the Bureau of Child Research at the University of Kansas and also began teaching in the Departments of Speech Language Pathology and Linguistics for the next 16 years. There he honed his teaching style, urging his students to question and evaluate each therapy moment in order to obtain the best outcomes for each child or adult. Students were taught to look at the whole person and never to presume a patient could not do something, no matter the diagnosis. He encouraged his students to develop an interest in research so that they could become the best speech language clinicians in their field.  

Leaving KU in 1985, Ken, Charlotte and their three children moved to Illinois, where Ken was chairman of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. In all of Ken’s university years, he was a beloved professor whose legacy lives on in his students and his voluminous research. He published in journals and books and presented his research findings and clinical procedures nationally and internationally. 

Always a doer, Ken was active in every community in which he resided advocating for children with speech, language and hearing issues; in Kansas he coached baseball in the Holcomb League; was a member of the KU refugee committee helping Vietnamese refugees resettle in Lawrence; served as president of the Aquahawks Swim Club where his children were swimmers. In Illinois, he organized the Jerry Lewis Telethon to help children with cerebral palsy, helped Vietnam veteran’s families whose children were negatively impacted by agent orange that their parent had been exposed to during their tour of duty. He volunteered with his family for two summers in Lithuania to work with teachers who needed to begin to integrate children with special needs in typical classrooms. In Ohio, he was employed as a master clinician and mentor to the speech pathology staff prior to his retirement from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  As president of the Ohio Speech Hearing Association, he and others advocated successfully to pass a significant law that provided for Newborn Infant Hearing Screening, resulting in better lifetime outcomes for infants born with hearing loss.  He was an active member of the Knights of Columbus and more recently he served for three years on the Alumni Board of Fort Hays State University. 

Ken loved to travel. He and Charlotte were always boarding planes or going on long car rides to visit family, old friends, former students all over the United Stated and even in Europe. He and his wife enjoyed theatre and musicals on Broadway, in Chicago and London. The family camped, hiked and skied in Colorado. They loved the mountains and when Charlotte retired in 2019, they moved to Colorado Springs where they were able to gaze at Pikes Peak every day. 

Ken was preceded in death by his parents, Nick and Hilda Ruder, and brothers, Roger, Darrell and Gary. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte; his children and their spouses, Christine, Maribeth (Keith), and Scott (Jennifer); his grandchildren, Matthew (Sara Daley), Andrew, Emma, and Nick; his great-grandchildren, Gideon and Ada; his sisters, Nancy Augustine and Mary Werth of Hays, his sister-in-law Rita (the late Darrell) Ruder and many nieces and nephews. Ken was a great model for his children and grandchildren. He will be remembered for his hard work on behalf of others and his endless sense of humor.

Please join the family for a memorial Mass and burial at Benet Hill Monastery, 3190 Benet Lane, Colorado Springs, 80921 on January 18, 2025, at 11:30 am. 

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly suggests memorials in Ken’s name: to

Benet Hill Monastery; to Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, or to your favorite charity.