Dr. Cora Jane (Brabazon) Ruhr

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Ruhr, Dr. Cora Jane (Brabazon) 82, formerly of White Bear Lake, passed away on April 4, 2017 in Sedona, Arizona, following a 4 year battle with melanoma. Cora was born in Chula Vista, CA, and received her B.S. degree in Physics from San Diego State University. While she was a student at SDSU, she worked at Convair as a draftsman on designs for the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile. She then received her Doctor of Optometry degree from UC Berkeley. Her passion for travel led her to join Northwest Airlines as a flight attendant so she could travel the world before settling down to start her own optometric practice in White Bear Lake in 1962. At that time, she was the only practicing woman optometrist in Minnesota. In 1973, she was appointed to the Minnesota State Board of Optometry by Governor Wendell Anderson, and she was named Chair of the Board in 1976. She is still the only woman ever to have served as Chair of the Minnesota State Board of Optometry. Cora was an active outdoorswoman who loved travel and adventure. She was an accomplished surfer, scuba diver, sailor, tennis player, skier, and an avid hiker. She was also an enthusiastic private airplane pilot, owning and flying several planes with her husband Chuck Ruhr, whom she married in 1962. Their first home after marriage was a boat, a retired 80 foot, 80 ton, river cruiser that had recently been moved to a lot in the woods near Marine on St. Croix, MN and then abandoned. She and her husband bought and restored the boat and lived there with their two children and two St. Bernards for seven years. After moving to White Bear Lake, she became an avid sailor, and was known for her uncanny ability to "turtle" her red Hobie Cat during weekend regattas on the lake. Her children remember that during the early White Bear Lake years, the family lacked basic furniture in their house, but had a small airplane to fly to the Black Hills of South Dakota for weekend camping trips, to visit grandparents in South Dakota and California, and to fly to the Rockies for skiing in the Winter. As Cora explained later, "We had priorities. Furniture was not one of them." They later moved to a farm in Forest Lake, MN, where they established Blueblood Arabians, which became a nationally-recognized Arabian horse breeding operation. They also acquired two sofas. After retiring, Cora moved to Sedona, AZ where she could hike year-round. She became an expert on local geology, writing several publications for visiting tourists. From her base in Sedona she traveled widely, including recent visits to Cuba, Turkey, India, Peru, and Antarctica. Cora was preceded in death by her son, Christopher Ruhr, who died in a traffic accident in Taiwan while working as business journalist for an American publication. She is survived by her former husband and best friend, Charles (Chuck) Ruhr, daughter Ann Ruhr Pifer, son-in-law Steven Wilmot, grandsons Christopher Pifer (21), Samuel Wilmot (16), and Owen Pifer (13), and dear friend and travel companion John Shiner. A celebration of Cora's life will be held on May 4, 11-1, at Kellermans' Event Center, 2222 Fourth Street, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. Memorials preferred to the Christopher Ruhr Memorial Scholarship Fund, St. Paul Academy and Summit School, 1712 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, MN, 55105.

Published on April 23, 2017