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Obituaries » ROELOF A. DUBOIS
DUBOIS, ROELOF A. “RUIE,” 92, died September 10 at the Mayo Healthcare facility in Northfield, where he had been residing for the past eight months. He was born in Highland, N.Y., Feb. 17, 1921, the youngest of three sons to Andries and Grace (Feeter) DuBois. He was a 1938 graduate of Highland High School. At age 17, he started running heavy equipment, bulldozers, etc., in Minneola, Long Island, N.Y., and later at Norfolk (Va.) Naval Air Station. It was in Norfolk where he met Virginia Jarvis, and they were married July 4, 1942, in South Mills, N.C. They were married for 52 years when Virginia passed away of cancer on Aug. 30, 1994. In November 1942, Ruie joined the Army 841st Aviation Engineers, 5th Air Force, as a heavy equipment operator, trained in Florida for 10 months building practice airstrips, and was then shipped out to Sydney and Brisbane, Australia, and then on to the World War II invasion in the Southwest Pacific in Cape Gloucester, New Britain; Hollandia, New Guinea; Moratai Island; and the Philippine Islands. The 841st EAB built airstrips for P-38 fighters and B-24 bombers, working sometimes 24 hours around the clock to get air protection. He achieved the ranks of corporal, sergeant and tec third grade, serving until January 1946. He was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Philippines Liberation Ribbon, American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. In May 1946, Ruie and Virginia moved to Northfield to join his older brother, Bill DuBois, in starting an excavation business named DuBois Construction. The two brothers worked tirelessly over the years to grow the business from a single Caterpillar traxcavator, digging cellar holes in the central Vermont area, to a respected midsize organization completing projects throughout the state. After Bill’s passing in l981, Ruie became the sole owner until his retirement in 1986, when the company was purchased by his son, Don DuBois, and nephew Phil Scott. Ruie has resided in Northfield for 67 years, most of them in their home on Stony Brook Road, where he and his wife, Virginia, raised two children, Andrea (DuBois) Scarborough and Donald DuBois. For many years Ruie and Virginia wintered in their Lakeland, Fla., home to escape the harsh winters of Vermont and to be near his brother, Bob. Many trips were made in their motor home, when still able to, back and forth each year to Florida, and on camping caravan trips with local friends, including a trip to Prince Edward Island. Ruie flourished when he could be around heavy equipment from his early years of running bulldozers and running the family business, to visiting job sites in his retirement years. He loved cars and was ever so proud of each one he owned. His main hobby was polishing and waxing his everyday vehicles and his antique cars, the ’56 and ’57 T-Birds and a Model A Roadster. He was one of the early members of the Vermont Automobile Enthusiasts antique auto club and entered his cars for competition and participated in local parades. He loved car racing and was instrumental in starting the Dog River Speedway in Northfield, around 1948. In the 1960s, he was again instrumental in the building of Thunder Road racetrack in Barre. Ruie was also an accomplished musician of many instruments. He especially loved playing the violin and his electric organs. His memberships included the Sorrell-Maynard American Legion Post 63, the DeWitt-Clinton Lodge 15 F. & A.M., a life member of the Scottish Rite Masonic Bodies, and Mount Sinai Shriners No. 3. Survivors include his daughter, Andrea Scarborough, and fiancé Lloyd Smith, of Berlin; a son, Donald DuBois, and wife Lee, of Northfield; a granddaughter, Sarah DuBois, of Barre; a grandson, Michael DuBois, and fiancée Christina Filian, of Montpelier; a nephew, William DuBois, of Chillicothe, Ill.; and Curtis Olds and wife Jan, of Norfolk, Va. Besides his wife, Virginia, he was predeceased by his two brothers, William DuBois and Robert DuBois; and a special friend/companion, Beverly Ritzer.
