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D. HENRY “SKIP” RUTHAthlete, Lansdale High School, 1953 Track & Field |
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D. Henry "Skip" Ruth was born in Lansdale and spent all twelve years in the Lansdale school system: eight at York Avenue and four at Lansdale High, from which he graduated fourth in his class. Skip was a member of three Track & Field Bux-Mont league Championship Teams, scoring points in the discus in 1951 & 1952 Bux-Mont League Championships. In 1953 he was undefeated in the Shot Put, Discus and Javelin in dual meet competition and won all three events in the Bux-Mont League Championships. In the Javelin he won the District One Championship, the Meet of Champions and the PIAA State Championship and was then selected as a Javelin High School All-American.In high school, in addition to being a member of Track & Field team, he was active in drama as well as the Lansdale High School Chorus and Band. He was nominated to the Bux-Mont Band in 1952-53 as well as District Chorus in 1953 and enjoyed singing baritone in the high school barbershop quartet his senior year. Skip won a competitive Open Scholarship to Ursinus College, from which he graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He lettered in football his first two years there and was also a four year member of the track team, being co-captain his senior year. He continued with involvement in music at Ursinus: sang in the Messiah Chorus of which he was section leader his senior year; was a member of the Meistersingers all four years becoming Student Conductor his senior year. He received his M.D. from The Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1961 and interned at the Allentown Hospital. He entered the Navy and graduated from the School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, FL as Flight Surgeon. His first tour of duty was Naval Station Midway Island; his second was Naval Air Station Willow Grove. Upon leaving the Navy, he entered private Family Practice for nine years with offices in Souderton, Hatfield and Lansdale. In 1971, he became a Charter Member of the American Board of Family Practice which led to his forgoing private practice in 1974 to enter Family Practice Education, with faculty appointments at Michigan State University and the State University of New York, Buffalo. His last educational post was at the Medical Center of Beaver County, PA as Director of the Family Practice Residency which he founded. He left teaching in 1990 to establish a fully computerized "paperless" Family Practice in Midland, PA. Subsequently, he practiced Occupational Medicine until retiring in 2004. Skip lives with Ethel, his wife of forty-nine years, and their daughter, Laura, in Aberdeen, MD. Ethel and he have three children and six grandchildren. They enjoy traveling, cooking, church activities, volunteering and spending time with their grandchildren. |
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Knight SiteNorth Penn Alumni Athletic AssociationPO Box 22, Lansdale, PA 19446 |
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