James C. Ruoff Jr.

James Clement Ruoff Jr born May 13,1979 in Lanesville left  this world very unexpectedly on July 6, 2020. Jay leaves behind his heart broken family members as follows.
Sons : Nelson James and Daniel Anthony Ruoff and their mom Carly 
Parents : Jim Ruoff Sr. Janet Volker and husband Jim
Wife : Jen Kratochovil Ruoff and her children Christina,Eddie and Cody
Sisters: Heidi Lewis, husband Mark son Zane and daughter Jayden
               April Ruoff and sons Elijah , Xavier and Logan
                Jessie Ruoff and son Isiah Rose
Many loving extended family and friends.

Jay was a logger who loved nothing more than being in the forest  enjoying his surroundings, catching a glimpse of a bear or deer. He was very talented at what he did. He handled thousands and thousands of logs over his career which   he took pride in. Jay over the years used conventional skidder and not so conventional work horses.

We often wondered how many hundreds of thousands of pieces of lumber he created with his logging operations.

Jay shared His passion for horses with his boys, Daniel and Nelson. They over the years attended  and competed in-numerous horse pulls in New York State and surrounding areas. There was a lot to be learned and great memories to be made. Plain old fun. Dan took up his Dads horse pulling passion and enjoyed his own ponies and pulling.

​Hunting, hiking and fishing in these beautiful mountains we’re also passions of Jay’s. His all-time favorite was definitely fishing the stony clove Creek down through Lanesville . Jay could catch large native brown trout in the most obscure places. He often released these beautiful un injured trout hoping for another day in the stream. He shared his passion for fishing with his boys and encouraged them to get out there and give it a whirl.

Jays artistic talents could be found in the many beautifully crafted wooden chainsaw sculptures and handmade hardwood hiking sticks he created. His natural talent creating and working with wood , produced one of a kind hardwood bowls made from Burls(large growths) found on the hardwood trees he harvested as a logger.

This man of the land and the earth ,took great pride in the beautiful garden that he produced. He loved to share his produce with anyone willing to take a bag full home. Waste not want not. His Dad and Grandpa Millard taught him all their garden tricks!
Nelson is 4th generation master gardener!

A very close friends of Jay’s reminded us as we lost “our boy” last night, to always remember the following. He knew there were days that Jay may not have had more than a dollar in his pocket trying to make ends meet as so many young people do, but this man of the earth would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it!! 

Please keep our family in your prayers as we make sense of our tremendous loss. His loving sons need our love, strength and support as they finish high school and start college this fall. 

Jays life will be celebrated and memorialized on Friday July 10,2020 at The 
Aston Basagic Funeral Home Hunter, New York under the direction of Hassan Basagic. 
Reverend Ralph Darmstadt will conduct a memorial service at 8:45 pm. Please respect coved 19 precautions by wearing a mask and social distancing.