A gathering of loved ones will be held at the Littleton & Rue funeral home Monday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., according to Rue’s obituary. Services will be held at the Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church at 1 p.m. Tuesday, with visitation at noon, and Rue will be laid to rest in the Ferncliff Cemetery on Tuesday. A memorial celebration will be held at the Springfield County Club after services.
Rue was described as having a “mindset of volunteerism” by his son Rob Rue, a Springfield city commissioner and director of Littleton & Rue Funeral Home.
Tom Rue moved to Springfield with wife Lorann in 1966, where he started working for Herb Littleton at his funeral home, according to his obituary. He took over completely in 1989 and later renamed the business Littleton & Rue.
He worked for 50 years before retiring in 2005. He continued working in his retirement, owning and operating Luxury RV and Boat Storage, according to his obituary.
The businessman inspired his son, who said at the age of eight when most kids wanted to be firefighters or police officers, he wanted to be a funeral director like his dad.
Tom Rue sold the business to his son and Robert Kampman after his retirement.
Mike McDorman, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Partnership, said he knew Rue for about 25 years, and received important guidance from Rue as McDorman began his chamber of commerce career.
“I saw Tom Rue almost every day” then, McDorman said. “He obviously means a lot to me.”
McDorman said Tom Rue was a genuine leader who worked hard to drive many of the initiatives that have helped move Springfield and Clark County forward.
“He was the definition of a volunteer servant in our community,” McDorman said. “You simply do not replace that type of leadership. I am thankful I had the opportunity to know Tom Rue and learn from him.”
McDorman shared some lighter memories of Tom Rue, including that he “was arguably the best-dressed business person in Springfield who cared deeply about the community and wanted it to succeed.”
He was also known for his personality shining through as the emcee of the chamber’s First Thursday Live meetings held at the Springfield Museum of Art and as the co-host of the annual chamber fundraiser’s Deal or No Deal game show. Dean Blair co-hosted the game show with him.
“They were a lot of fun,” McDorman said. “You will never replicate what they did.”
Tom Rue was active in other areas of the community, being president of Rotary Club, a board member on the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, on the Urbana University Board, a member of the Sheltered Inc. board and more.
“Tom was a true champion for Springfield and always believed there was more and better for his community,” his obituary stated.
According to his obituary, Tom and Lorann Rue enjoyed boating on the Ohio River, spending time at Indian Lake, Michigan, traveling and spending winters in Naples, Florida.
The father of two loved people and would ask five questions to get to know everyone he met, his son said.
“He made people his hobby,” the city commissioner said.
The businessman also served as a volunteer firefighter with the German Twp. Fire Department for 10 years, Rob Rue said. In the 1960s and 70s when most funeral homes went on ambulance calls, Tom Rue was no exception, and he built relationships with German Twp. firefighters through this work.
He was passionate about this work and constantly stayed knowledgeable about the calls emergency services went on, Rob Rue said.
“Both my sister and I were born with the scanner over our heads,” Rob Rue said.
Tim Holman, German Twp. fire chief, said of Tom Rue’s service with the department: “He was all in. He just loved it, every aspect of the job.”
Holman was at Rue’s bedside when he died after Rue had been with Holman when Holman’s first wife died.
“I feel honored to be there,” the chief said. “I will miss him.”
The two met at the scene of a fire in Springfield in the 1970s and became close friends for the years since.
They went to NASCAR races together and built “a lot of memories,” Holman said.
Holman said people might not know how much Rue cared about people and how much he would help others.
“If he saw someone in need, he would say, ‘Tim, we need to do something about that,’” Holman said. “He did it all quietly. He would never take any credit for it.”
