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Bill Rutledge and his wife Edythe were pioneers as CSJ Associates when our Toronto Congregation began this program with the Matt Talbot Associate Community in the early 1980s. So it was with sadness that we watched Bill slowly succumb to the cancer that took his life in March of this year. Bill was born and raised in Toronto, attending Blessed Sacrament and St. Vincent de Paul elementary schools and De La Salle during his high school years. Bill and Edythe were married in Our Lady of Lourdes Church on September 3, 1942. During World War II, Bill enlisted in the armed services but health reasons prevented him from going overseas. He spent the war years at Trenton helping with a medical research study. After the war Bill worked for Simpsons as a Sales Manager. Bill first got to know the Sisters of St. Joseph through Sr. Anne Marie Carey and their involvement with Father Tom McKillop and the Faith & Sharing Prayer Groups which were a follow-up from the Vanier Retreats at Mary Lake. Bill and Edythe were also active in the Catholic Family Movement. Father Tom McKillop and friends were interested in working with the poor in downtown Toronto. At about this time, the Congregation wanted to open a Detox Centre as an outreach from St. Michael's Hospital. The prayer group which Bill and Sister Anne Marie attended met for a discernment weekend to see if any members would become involved with this new project. Should Bill decide to quit his job with Simpsons to work at the Detox Centre, it would mean a considerable reduction in salary. Bill met with his wife and family to discuss this with them. As the mortgage on their house was paid and the children were well on their way as regards their education, it was agreed that Bill would take this major change of direction in his life. So, in 1973, Bill resigned his job at Simpsons and became involved in the planning for the opening of St. Michael's Detox Centre. There was a short period when he was without a salary. This stage involved planning, organizing renovations and interviewing potential staff. Later, while working full time at the Detox Centre, Bill squeezed into a busy work schedule, courses in addiction counseling at George Brown College. The need for a halfway house, as a follow-up to the detox program, soon became evident. So in 1976 St. Michael's House on Rushholme Road opened with Bill Rutledge as its first Director. Bill continued in this position until his retirement in 1988. Meanwhile, Sr. Virginia Varley approached Sr. Anne Marie Carey to see if she knew anyone who might be interested in the CSJ Associates which, at this point, was in its planning stages. Bill and Edythe Rutledge attended the first information meeting and decided to become involved. The first group met at Matt Talbot House on Carlton Street (hence the name Matt Talbot Associates). Bill and Edythe, along with their son John, participated in the first commitment ceremony at Morrow Park in 1981. And as the saying goes, the rest is history. In the late 1990s, Edythe Rutledge had a serious brain aneurysm. With much love and many prayers, she survived this threat to her life. From this point on Bill became her principal care-giver, a task which he fulfilled with great tenderness and devotion. However, as his own health began to deteriorate, it became clear that serious decisions lay ahead. In December 2004, Bill and Edythe moved to Providence Health Centre on St. Clair Avenue and it was there where Bill died peacefully in March 2005. The final words to this tribute belong to a close family friend of the Rutledges who composed the following: "In thanksgiving for the life and witness of Bill Rutledge, our friend, our mentor, our guide, who met each one of us precisely as we were, precisely where he found us, but who called all of us to be better, to be kinder, to be more loving in Christ. May his hand still be in ours and, in those moments when we are most alone, may his quiet spirit still be with us to guide, to touch and to lead us home."
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