Boyceville native leaves $29,000 to fire department

By LeAnn R. Ralph

BOYCEVILLE  — You could have almost heard a pin drop when it was announced to the Boyceville Community Fire District Board that Ron Grutt had left nearly $29,000 to the fire department.

Grutt died April 6 at the age of 85, and fire board members learned of the gift at their regular monthly meeting April 12.

Ron Grutt was a highly decorated Korean War veteran, said Mike Blechinger, representative for the Town of Tiffany.

Blechinger, who was accompanied by his replacement on the Tiffany Town Board and on the fire board, Dave Bartz, knew Grutt well and had spent quite a lot of time visiting and enjoying many cups of coffee with him.

Grutt graduated from Boyceville High School in 1950 and served in the United States Army from 1951 to 1953.

While serving in Korea as a medic with the Medical Company 15th Infantry Regiment 3rd Infantry Division, he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant and earned a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star with Valor and several other medals.

Grutt worked for the Soo Line Railroad and Canadian Pacific for 41 years as an architectural engineer, doing maintenance, putting in culverts and bridges and keeping the buildings up to date. 

“He was one of Boyceville’s finest,” Blechinger said. 

The donation from Ron Grutt is “unbelievable,” said Brian Marlette, Boyceville fire chief.

Marlette said he would like to put the money — $28,753 — into a “building fund” for furnishings for the new fire station.

“We could buy some really nice furnishings with that,” he said.

“I would also like to suggest a good coffee pot and a large supply of coffee. He loved coffee,” Blechinger said. 

Spike

The Tribune Press Reporter interviewed Grutt in 2014 at the time of the Boyceville All School Reunion.

For as long as Grutt could remember, the Boyceville High School mascot has been a bulldog.

One year while Grutt was in high school, someone had gotten the idea that he should bring his cousin’s bulldog to a basketball game.

“Spike was a little white bulldog. He stood about this tall (indicating knee height). He was pure white. He had one black spot. For a couple of seasons, the cheerleaders at halftime would (do a Bulldogs’ cheer), and we would have him on a leash and take him around the basketball floor,” Grutt had recalled in the 2014 interview. 

“After a couple of seasons, he passed away, but it really hit home to have a bulldog for the games,” he’d said.

Grutt did not recall if there were any other bulldogs to carry on the legacy — only Spike.

“Spike didn’t seem to mind. We used to take him on out-of-town games, too, once in a while. We’d all get on the bus and ride the bus with the team. Spike rode on the bus, too. That’s going back some years. I graduated in 1950. That was in the late 40s when we had Spike,” Grutt had recalled. 

Specifications

Blechinger wondered if Grutt had specified what the money could be used for that he had left to the fire department.

Grutt was a precise kind of person, which was not surprising considering his engineering background, so Blechinger said he would not be surprised if Grutt had left instructions for the way he wanted the money to be spent.

Marlette said he did not believe there were specifications for the money but that he would check.

No matter how the money is spent at the fire department, one thing is certain: it is a much-appreciated legacy from a man who had always called Boyceville “home.”