Eleanor L. Ruder, 72, founder of The Bridge to Life, a pro-life organization in Queens which assisted women with their pregnancies, died Oct. 4 after a year’s battle with cancer.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Wednesday, Oct. 10, in her home parish of Sacred Heart, Bayside. Retired Bishop Thomas V. Daily was the main concelebrant.

“In the midst of great pain, overwhelming fatigue and diminishing physical stamina, she never lost her passion for providing a Brige for Life for the unborn and their mothers,” said Cathy Donohoe, a pro-life activist and president of Bridge to Life’s Board of Directors.

Ruder funded Bridge to Life, the first crisis pregnancy center in Queens in 1992. She was a member of the Diocese’s Pro-Life Hall of Fame and a former member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council.

A graduate of Le Moyne College, Syracuse, she was retired from a career in banking when she established Bridge to Life.

She was a Lady of the Holy Sepulchre.
She is survived by her brothers, Stephen and David Long; her daughters, Judith Ruder and Jeanne M. Ruder; and grandchildren, Holly Ruder and John Dorian Buck.

Sister Mary Loretto Glasser, CSJ, 93, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Brentwood, for 73 years, died Sept. 22, in Maria Regina Residence, Brentwood.

She entered the congregation in 1935 from St. Martin of Tours parish, Bushwick.  She taught at St. Patrick’s School, Kent. Ave., 1936-37; St. Benedict Joseph Labre, Richmond Hill, 1937-46; Bishop McDonnell H.S., Brooklyn, 1951-56. 

After receiving a master’s degree in Spanish she ministered in Puerto Rico from 1956 to 1959 as she ministered to the people in San German and Ponce. 

She then returned to the states where she taught English in Our Lady of Perpetual Help H.S., Sunset Park, 1959-64, and Spanish in Sacred Heart Academy, Hempstead, 1964-65.

She also was principal of St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights, 1965-71, and St. Frances de Chantal, Wantagh, 1971-76. 

Prior to her retirement in 1995, she was in residence  at St. Joseph Convent and then at Maria Regina Residence, Brentwood.

She is survived by her brother, Thomas Glasser and her sister, Madeleine Koenig. Burial took place in Calvary Cemetery, Brentwood.

Sister Catherine Porter, OP, 93, a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, died Oct. 3 after 72 years of religious life.

Born in Brooklyn, she grew up in Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, Bensonhurst, and attended Bay Ridge H.S. She entered the congregation in 1935 and took the religious name of Sister Ann Magdalen.

She taught at Fourteen Holy Martyrs, Bushwick, 1936-40; St. Frances de Chantal, Borough Park, 1940-42; St. Joseph’s, Kings Park, 1942-46; St. Bartholomew, Elmhurst, 1946-54; St. Martin of Tours, Amityville, 1954-59; St. Kilian’s, Farmingdale, 1959-64; and St. Joseph’s, Kings Park, 1964-68. From 1969 to 1982, she worked in the school and parish ministry at St. Hugh of Lincoln, Huntington Station.

For 18 years, she served on the Bi-County Senior Citizens’ Alliance during her tenure at St. Hugh of Lincoln.

Also, she spent 28 summers ministering to the elderly at Our Lady of Consolation Residence.
Poor health required her to move to Maria Regina Residence, Brentwood, in 2006.

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