John Richardson "Richard" Ruthven, age 78, passed away on October 11th, 2025. Born in Durham, NC, Richard grew up in Hartsville, SC and graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC in 1969 with a BA in English. He joined the US Air Force after college and served in Vietnam from 1970-71, finishing his service at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

Richard and his wife of 56 years, Carol, have resided in their Cream Ridge home since 1976. He worked as a tax preparer for H&R Block for over 20 years and was active in his community, coaching Little League and donating time to his church. His hobbies kept him out of trouble most of the time. He enjoyed fishing in his Grady White "Summer Wind", reading (especially Civil War history and JRR Tolkien), playing "O" gauge trains, making wooden toys and cheering on his NFL Eagles.

Surviving are his wife, Carol; twin brother, Martin Ruthven and his wife, Chris; his son, John and his wife, Kerinn, grandson, Owen and granddaughter, Madeline; his son, David and his wife, Lauren, grandsons, Meyer and Remy; his niece, Debbie Weaver; nephew, Michael Barbee and his wife, Candy, and nephew, Dale Matthew Barbee.

A visitation will be held from 10-11am with a memorial service to begin at 11am Saturday, October 18, 2025 at the Peppler Funeral Home, 114 S. Main St. Allentown, NJ. A burial service will military honors will be held at 3pm at Emley's Hill Cemetery, Cream Ridge, NJ.

Memorial contributions may be made in Richard's name to the Allentown Methodist Church, 23 Church St., Allentown, NJ 08501 or to the Alzheimer's Association at www.alz.org .