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Kurt Robert Ruckstuhl, 77
Swiss-born war veteran owned gift shop
BANNER STAFF
Kurt Robert Ruckstuhl, 77, who operated several gift shops in Provincetown, died March 12 of cancer after being cared for in his final days by the Visiting Nurses at his home in North Truro.
Ruckstuhl was born in 1922 in Switzerland. He attended local schools there and graduated from L'Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Neuchatel in 1942.
He served in the neutral Swiss 6th Division Infantry during WW II. His duties involved patrolling on skis and guarding the entrance to strategic tunnels through the Alps.
Ruckstuhl first came to the U.S. in 1948 and worked for several years in New York City for a Swiss insurance company, Unfall Winterthur. He also worked as a sub-director for Diethelm & Keller, an international trading firm.
He was drawn to Provincetown by its unique atmosphere and originally worked as a mate with Capt. Al Avellar on the schooner Hindu and the party-fishing boat Dolphin.
In the early 1960s, along with a partner, he purchased a traditional Cape Cod house owned by painter Heinrich Pfeiffer at 240 Commercial St. and opened The Old Village Store. With his wife, Irma, he later added the Emporium at 352 Commercial St., The Corner Gift Shop at 250 Commercial St. and Candlemakers at 220 Commercial St.
In April 1999, he retired following the sale of the last of those properties.
An avid and hearty traveler, his off-season trips involved trekking to the 18,000-foot base camp of Mt. Everest in 1973 as well as six visits to India and journeys behind the Iron Curtain, Antarctica, Angkor Wat and many other sites in Europe, the Far East and the Americas.
He is survived by his wife, who he married on New Year's Day in 1955; a niece, Ursula Ruckstuhl of Aadorf, Switzerland; cousins Helen Brunner of London, Gilo Tortl of Seuzach, Switzerland and Heinz Tortl of Winterthur, Switzerland; and many long-time friends, acquaintances, former employees and business contacts.
His older brother died in January 1999.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Truro Conservation Trust or the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod. A celebration of his life will be held in the near future.
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Charles Davidson dies at 89
Mary J. Boyle, 91
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Mar 23rd, 2000