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Angeli named CNO at Commonwealth Health Tyler Memorial Hospital

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Bill Withers&#8217; &#8220;Ain&#8217;t No Sunshine&#8221; was playing Tuesday over the usual hustle and bustle of lunchtime at Circles on the Square.&#8220;Ain&#8217;t no sunshine when she&#8217;s goneIt&#8217;s not warm when she&#8217;s awayAin&#8217;t no sunshine when she&#8217;s goneAnd she&#8217;s always gone too longAnytime she goes away.&#8221;Kind of eerie lyrics for the first day of open-for-business for the downtown delicatessen/emporium without its founder/owner/operator Phil Rudy, who died Thursday at the age of 68.&#8220;Wonder this time where she&#8217;s goneWonder if she&#8217;s gone to stayAin&#8217;t no sunshine when she&#8217;s goneAnd this house just ain&#8217;t no homeAnytime she goes away.&#8221;With Rudy gone in body, but ever-present in spirit, his &#8220;gang&#8221; continued to do what they have always done, just the way Rudy taught them.&#8220;We&#8217;re just doing what Phil would want us to do,&#8221; said Brenda Sokolowski, an 11-year employee at Circles. &#8220;We&#8217;re like a family here, and we want to stay together.&#8221;Debi Rudy, Phil&#8217;s widow and now owner of the store, said she wants to continue what Phil started and worked at for 32 years.&#8220;We all talked about it and decided this is what Phil would have wanted,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We have the best people working here. We&#8217;re a team, and we&#8217;re going to make this work. Phil didn&#8217;t work 32 years to just let it end. We will do our best and, God willing, we will pull it off.&#8221;Debi Rudy said her husband loved his store, and he worked very hard at it every day.&#8220;That&#8217;s why it is what it is,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Luckily, he trained his people well, and they all know their responsibilities. They said if I wanted, they would keep it open.&#8221;Debi Rudy said she wasn&#8217;t about to &#8220;let those kids down.&#8221; She said they all love their jobs, and she said she couldn&#8217;t ask for a better team.She said at Phil&#8217;s wake on Sunday, many people offered comments about how Phil helped them over the years, acting as a mentor to them.&#8220;Circles is a place, even though Phil isn&#8217;t there, where the quality will continue,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Although this breaks my heart, I loved him and he loved me and he loved that store.&#8221;As the music continued overhead, from reggae to jazz to even some tunes from Snoopy, customers waited in line to place their orders. Sokolowski said a lot of people came in to show their support for the store, offering condolences on Rudy&#8217;s passing, but saying they were glad that Circles will remain open.&#8220;There were tears in many eyes today,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Phil touched many lives.&#8221;At the self-serve salad bar that sits beneath a group of wind chimes, several people filled their salad containers. Not far away, bananas sat on top of a glass display rack where wooden ducks were for sale.Matt Pugh of PNC Bank said he is at Circles most every day &#8212; for coffee in the morning, returning later for lunch.&#8220;This is one big family here,&#8221; Pugh said. &#8220;I knew Phil very well. He was a great guy. His stamp is on everything in here. He won&#8217;t be forgotten. I&#8217;m overjoyed that Circles is staying open. It&#8217;s an institution in downtown Wilkes-Barre.&#8221;As things appeared to be back to normal, well sort of, as customers carried their white bags, filled with double-wrapped sandwiches or salads or soup.Nicole Prezkop, who works downtown, said she usually comes to Circles for a salad or the lobster mac and cheese.&#8220;Phil&#8217;s death is devastating,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He would always help wait on customers. The place is always packed. It&#8217;s sad that Phil is gone, but it&#8217;s good that Circles is staying open.&#8221;And with apologies to Bill Withers, the &#8220;sunshine&#8221; that was Phil Rudy will never be gone from Circles on the Square.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Circles on the Square re-opened for business Tuesday, the first day without owner/operator Phil Rudy who died Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_TTL030817Circles1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Circles on the Square re-opened for business Tuesday, the first day without owner/operator Phil Rudy who died Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Bill O&#8217;Boyleboboyle@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</shirttailMeta></div>

Faithful customers return to Circles on the Square