Rudolph Lawrence Ciuca

Rudolph Lawrence Ciuca was born on February 21, 1931 in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania to Giuseppe Ciuca and Carrie Manifest. He passed away on April 6, 2024 at his home in Sonoma, California.

Rudy went through High School in Vandegrift where he played clarinet and saxophone in the band and the school orchestra. He and his cousins also had a band which played for dances in the area.

After High School, he went to work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a while. Then in 1953, he joined the Navy. He did basic training in Great Lakes Naval Base, Chicago.  He attended Hospital Corpsman school and Operating Room Technical at Great Lake also.  After completing Operating Room training, he was stationed at Mare Island Naval Base at Vallejo, California before transferring to Oak Knoll Naval Station Hospital in Oakland, California, where worked in the operating room. During this time, he made Lifelong Friends with Hal and Betty Bellows.

In the last year of his service, Rudy was assigned to the Marine Corp. because they did not have medical personnel in the corp. so the Navy provided the medical personnel. After completing basic training in the Marine Corp., he was assigned to Japan, which was the last place he wanted to be assigned. He arrived at his base in the middle of the night so when he got up the next morning, he was surprised to see Mt. Fuji in the back ground. He determined that he was going to climb that mountain, which he did before he left Japan.

During his time in Japan, he learned a lot about photography from a Japanese photographer who took pictures of Japanese fighter pilots. He developed a great interest in photography which he did a lot of the rest of his life. In the 80's, he decided to start painting some of the scenes that he took pictures of. He said painting was a way of relaxing and ended up painting more than one thousand paintings. Anyone who said they liked his painting usually left with one or more of his paintings.

After he was discharged from the Navy in 1956, he went to work at the VA Hospital in San Francisco as a surgical tech in the operating room.  He went to college and in 1962 became a Registered Nurse and continued to work in the operating room at the VA Hospital as a RN.  Later he became the Head Nurse in the Operating Room. He was assigned as Head Nurse on the surgical ward.  He was later assigned to an Out Patient Clinic in Oakland. Rudy became the Assistant Chief Nurse at the Martinez VA Hospital. When the current Chief Nurse retired, he became the Chief Nurse at the Martinez VA Hospital. While there, he managed other VA clinics in Northern California. Rudy retired after working 44 years for the VA.  After retiring he was hired by the VA as a consultant for VA hospitals and clinics to get them ready for Joint Commission of Hospitals Accreditation.

In the early 70’s Rudy returned to school again and received two Masters of Art degrees, first in Public Health and then in Education.

In 1982 he became the President of the Jack London Foundation a not-for-profit organization that worked with schools to promote reading and writing.

He was an active member of the American Iris Society and the Santa Rosa Iris Society. Again, he was interested in teaching young people about growing and showing Irises.

Rudy is survived by his husband and partner of 62 years Joe Lawrence, sisters-in-law's Louise Ciuca, Luana Ciuca, niece Patty Ciuca, grand niece Chiara DeJoy and grand nephews Peter (Kaitlin) Duffy and Shea Duffy, and great grand nephew Roy Duffy.  He has other nieces and  Grand nieces and nephews.

            He was preceded death by his parents, brother's Tony Ciuca, Johnny Ciuca, sisters in--law Evalee Ciuca, Delores Ciuca and nephew Gary Ciuca.

In October of 2023 he was diagnosed as having stage four cancer and passed away on April 6, 2024, He was surrounded by his husband Joe Lawrence, family and friends.

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