Dennis Wayne Ruble, Ed.D.
by Carl B. Coleman
The
Scottish Poet Robert Burns wrote in a 1790 letter to Charles Sharpe:
"It is true, sir, you are a gentleman of rank
and fortune, and I am a poor devil; you are a feather in the cap of society, and
I am a very hobnail in his shoe; yet I have the honour to belong to the same
family with you...."
Our Fontana Unified School District family has
had the good fortune of having such a gentleman among us who has been a teacher,
administrator, board member, historian, leader, innovator, cheerleader, and as
any good family member - a listener.
 Dennis Wayne Ruble was born to Allen and
Catherine Ruble in an upstairs bedroom of his grandparent's home on a farm near
Lu Verne, Iowa and, according to his family, he was such a lively child he had
to be tied to the pillars on the front porch to keep him from running away.
His family relocated to Clinton, Illinois where Wayne attended Lincoln
Elementary School, Washington Junior High School and Clinton Community High
School. At age ten he was hospitalized for a year with tuberculosis of the
bone. Upon recovering he vowed he would help others to repay the kindness
of those who worked so hard to fight his illness.
Following high school, Wayne enrolled at Illinois
State Normal University (later known as Illinois State University) in Normal,
Illinois. He was one of the first
students in the special education program and earned money for college expenses
by washing pots and pans in the girl's dorm. he also worked in the local
drug store on weekends and summers. Earning his bachelor's and master
degrees at Illinois State he became the first teacher/director at the St. Joseph
Cerebral Palsy Unit at Illinois State until he was drafted into the Army.
He served two years as a psychiatric social worker at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina.
After his release from the Army, Wayne taught
primary and junior high school emotionally disturbed youngsters and began
working on his doctorate at Colorado State College.
American historian Henry Adams wrote:
"A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell
where his influence stops."
Wayne's influence in Fontana began in 1958.
He had been offered a job teaching English and special education at Fontana High
School. Ruble loaded his belongings into his old blue Packard and headed
for Fontana following Route 66. The desert in August is never kind to
older automobiles and Wayne's Packard was no exception. His car broke
down, had to be repaired, ruptured Wayne's timeline and he arrived at Fohi at 6
a.m. on his first day of work. The day was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.
and it did.
 Wayne remained at Fontana High for five years
after implementing the first special education class at the school. In
1963 he became Coordinator of Special Services for the district and supervised
all special education, speech, hearing and the school nurses programs as well as
school counselors. Wayne was responsible for establishing the district's
Developmental Center for the Handicapped for developmentally-delayed children
and programs for visually-handicapped students, severely emotionally disturbed
youngsters, and educationally-handicapped programs. He also organized San
Bernardino County's Council for Exceptional Children and served as its
president.
His door was always open for help according to
his colleagues. Once when there weren't enough bus and van drivers for
special education buses, Ruble helped drive the vehicles to ensure the students
were able to attend their classes.
As Coordinator of Special Services, Dr. Ruble
helped design the original Virginia Primrose School to function as a site for
developmentally-handicapped, emotionally-disturbed and educationally-handicapped
students within the district. In recognition for his service to
handicapped students, he was presented with an Honorary Life Membership by the
American Association on Mental Deficiency in Boston, Massachusetts in 1982.
In 1985, Dr. Ruble became the first Fontana
teacher to be inducted into the San Bernardino County Museum's Teachers Hall of
Fame. According to the letter nominating Ruble, he "spent his life in the
service of others and that his contributions to the handicapped of the
community, especially children, cannot be overstated."
Wayne has served his community as Chairman of the
Fontana Cultural Arts Commission. The City of Fontana's Park and
Recreation Commission, member of the Fontana Family Service Agency, the Fontana
YMCA Board of Directors and the San Bernardino County Mental health Advisory
Board. He currently maintains membership in the Disabled American
Veterans, the American Legion, California Retired Teacher Association, the Sons
of the American Revolution, Council for Exceptional Children, Phi Delta kappa,
the American Association on Mental Deficiencies, American Association of Retired
Persons, Fontana Historical Society, Fontana Historical Commission, Fontana
Rotary Club and the San Bernardino County Maternal and Child Health Advisory
Board.
In addition, he is a Board Member and Secretary
of Psychosynthesis International, President of the Fontana Cultural Arts and
Beautification Committee, President of the Fontana/Rialto Concert Association,
President of the Fontana Organization of Retired School Employees and sits on
the Board of the Fontana Teen Center and the San Bernardino Family Services
Agency.
But Wayne Ruble was not "all work and no play."
 According to Maxine Hackett, long time friend and
associate, he initiated the retirement dinners. To Wayne's credit, these
are more than dinners, they're truly galas. The evening begins with a
reception of hors d'oeuvres and soft drinks for those retiring followed by a
well prepared meal, choral music, presentation of raffled gifts, recognition of
years of service and presentation of the retirees and their guests. At
each place setting there is a multiple paged program including photographs and
biographies of those retiring as well as a memory section dedicated to those who
died during the past year.
Ruble retired from the district in 1985 after 27
years of service to children. He said he was going to continue his work in
psychosynthesis, work on his family's genealogy, work part time as a mental
health therapist and continue his service on the many boards of which he was a
member. He also ran for a seat on the board of trustees - and won!
In his twenty-one years on the Fontana Unified
Board of Education, Wayne watched the district grow rapidly from approximately
20,000 students in 1985 to over 42,000 in 2006, opened 20 new schools, passed
two general obligation bonds issued totaling $325 million and continues to plan
and build additional schools to house students of the future. In addition
to his regular board duties, Wayne has remained active in the community serving
on many boards and committees, leading the retirement dinner planning, and
listening. Wayne is an apt listener.
He is always interested in what you have to say, especially if it concerns
students or the district. Many have looked upon him as the district's
ombudsman and friend. And he was never too busy to serve. On behalf
of the Board of Education, Wayne Wrote an annual year-end message that was sent
to all employees and retirees that outlined the progress FUSD made that year,
listed those who were no longer with us and advised the reader of various
changes in principals. He kept the family informed.
 As a member of the Board of Education, he
consistently championed and recognized art education and vocational education
programs contrary to the desire to scrap fine arts and career education in the
face of tight money and budget cuts. History has shown the wisdom of
Wayne's philosophy of a well rounded education as the "earmarking" of recent
statewide bond funds for career educational facilities and the reinstatement of
arts programs in districts which removed them to reduce their budgets.
Fontana Unified never cut arts programs as a financial measure, even in hard
times.
On May 17, 2000, the Fontana Unified School
District Board of Education voted to name a middle school, still in the planning
stages, after Dr. Wayne Ruble in recognition of four decades of service to
students, school employees and the community. Wayne Ruble Middle School is
located on Juniper Avenue, between Walnut Street and South Highland Avenue.
Wayne Ruble has had a major affect on Fontana
Unified School District and the City of Fontana for the past 43 years and his
influence will remain for years to come.
Serving as a teacher, administrator and member of
the Board of Education, Dr. Ruble has left an imprint on our community and
school family that will long remain.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of o'lang syne!
Robert Burns
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