away, Saturday, March 30, 2024.
She will be laid to rest next to her beloved husband of 64 years, Harold
Lawrence “Larry”, and her son Alan, at the family farm on Saturday, April 6,
at 11:00 AM. Hudson Family Cemetery, 2123 Highway 341 South, Yatesville, GA
31097. Dr. Jeff Morgan will officiate.
To know her was to love her. Caring, happy, beautiful, devoted, strong,
family oriented, always thinking of others, active community member, artist,
quintessential mother. That’s how those who knew mom would likely describe
her. But only her closest family, those who knew what life had dealt her,
could understand how miraculous it was that she was able to bring so much
happiness and joy to those around her. Mom never dwelled on her pain. Never
acted a victim. Instead, she turned her troubles into a powerful tool to
bring joy to others.
Born in Blackey, Virginia on March 7, 1938. Janice Marie Blankenship was the
fifth of Boyd and Pearl Matney Blankenship’s children. Though Blackey was in
the heart of Appalachian coal country, mom’s family were farmers. Just three
weeks after her birth, tragedy visited the family. The young father, just 29
years old, went for a walk. When he didn’t return, family found his body in
the field. Cause of death, according to his death certificate, heart attack.
Pearl’s mother passed when she was just six years-of-age, and she married
Boyd at 16. Now that he was gone, the care of her young family of six, fell
on the 26-year-old mother. Though she had help from her family and in-laws,
we can only imagine her burden. Around 1940, Pearl re-married. Unlike Boyd
Blankenship, who earned his living as a farmer, Branson Tate worked in the
coal mining industry, an occupation that would bring great change to the
young family’s life style.
Pearl and Branson grew their family and by 1948, mom had 8 siblings, two
sisters and six brothers. After Pearl’s marriage to Branson, the young
family moved from the farm to a series of coal camps in Virginia, West
Virginia and Kentucky. The moves came rapidly. Perhaps that is one reason
the siblings grew so close. Never remaining in the same coal camp for long,
mom never attended the same school more than one year. At a young age, she
missed an entire year of school while recovering from whooping cough, a
respiratory illness she nearly succumbed too. Mom believed the illness may
have resulted in serious health issues she endured many years later, and
ultimately took her life. She recalled coughing and crying for hours, upon
hours, but she also fondly recalled her siblings rocking her bed nearly all
day and night, trying to calm her. The importance of her siblings, is a
motif that ran throughout mom’s life. While she had many stories about them,
as we recently sorted through family photographs, she talked a great deal
about her brother Glen, who wished to be a professional photographer. Glen
had a camera and a business card, she recalled, and he constantly begged her
to pose for photographs that he could use for his marketing. It sounded as
if she sometimes found his begging her to model annoying, but when she
talked about him, you could tell she loved the attention. She beamed when
she recalled how all of her brothers made her feel so beautiful. I’m
certainly glad my uncle Glen graced us with beautifully posed photographs of
my mom. Not many families are blessed with so many professional photographs
of their loved ones.
When mom was 12-13 years-old, her mother moved the family from the coal
camps to Mount Hope, West Virginia, and there continued to care for them on
her own. In the city, though under age, mom easily found work. Well before
she was 15, she had a job cooking for men working on building the
interstate. She would go in before school and cook them breakfast. Sometimes
she returned on her lunch break to help with lunch, only to return after
school let out. One of her fondest memories was her time working at the
Sweet Shop, a local business popular with youth. But she soon moved on for
higher pay. By the time she was in the tenth grade, giving up a chance to
graduate from High School, and hiding her true age, she was able to land a
job with the West Virginia Manufacturing Plant in Beckley. There, she met
her husband of nearly 64 years, my father Harold Lawrence “Larry” Hudson.
Mom and dad married in 1959. I, their first child, was born in 1960, and my
brother, Alan, my only sibling, in 1961. From that moment on, until we
entered high school, mom devoted her life to caring for her family. Soon
after their marriage, dad went to work for National Cash Register (NCR), a
relationship that would last until he retired after 30 years. Like her
childhood, dad’s work would move the family numerous times, this time across
the country including Ohio, Connecticut, and South Carolina before settling
down in Albany, Georgia for over a decade while we finished school.
When Alan and I both entered high school, mom returned to school, obtaining
her GED and nursing license. She went to work for Dr. Collins, an Albany, GA
general practitioner. Considering how well she cared for others, it wasn’t
surprising she was really good at her job. So good in fact, she was elected
treasurer of the Doughtery County Chapter of the American Association of
Medical Assistants.
After Alan and I entered college, mom and dad hit the road again, making
stops for NCR in Jacksonville and Tallahassee, FL. During this time, mom
nourished her creative side, painting in oil, acrylic and water color, and
working in various textile arts. She was very good and her creations hang
across the country in the homes of family members where they continue to
radiate her light.
In 1990, upon dad’s retirement, they chose to make one final move, settling
on a small picturesque farm outside Barnesville, Georgia. It was here that
mom hit her full-stride—helping found the Optimist Club, serving on the
Friends of the Library, starting the Barnesville Walking Club, reading to
elementary school children, and becoming an active member of the Red Hat
Society and the Antioch Baptist Church. There is no telling how much more
she may have accomplished had she not soon been diagnosed with severe
Pulmonary Hypertension, a lung heart disease, and spending over a decade of
her final years on 24/7 oxygen.
Despite being confined primarily to her home, and unable to continue her
active life style, she never complained. As she had her entire life, she
devoted the time she had left making others happy. Never dwelling on her
problems. She was a joy until she decided it was time for her to join the
many family members who had proceeded her in death: her parents, Boyd and
Pearl Blankenship (Tate), her husband of 64 years, Harold Lawrence “Larry”
Hudson, her son Alan Hudson, her sisters Virginia “Sandy” Powell and Joann
Smoot (Joann actually passed three days after mom, 4/2/24), her brothers
Dennis Blankenship, Glen Blankenship, Leo Tate, and Donald Tate, and
numerous nieces and nephews.
Until her health failed, mom worked to help keep the family together,
hosting numerous reunions in her home. There was never enough physical
space, but no one noticed. Throughout her life mom was fiercely dedicated to
her family. Losing so many during her life-time, some at very young ages,
was devastating. And yet, though she grieved their loss, she continued to
prioritize her living family and not her grief, working endlessly to
brighten their lives. She is survived by her daughter Karen Hudson and
daughter-in-law Robin Maley (Lexington, KY), grand-daughter Shannon Marie
Hudson (Woodstock, GA), grand-daughter Erin Hudson Looper, son-in-law
Jameson Looper and great-grandson Weston Looper (Easley, SC),
daughter-in-law Sandra Hudson (Barnesville, GA), brother and sister-in-law
Jimmy and Lola Tate (Abingdon, VA), brother and sister-in-law Brad and
Dianna Tate (Newnan, GA), and a number of nieces and nephews who live across
the country.
Most family and friends know how close my dad was to his dogs. He rarely
went anywhere without them. But few know it was actually mom who mostly
cared for them, and she who they followed to bed at night. She took great
comfort in her current rescue, Lily, being by her side in her last days. She
loved them all, but one, Evie Rose, held a special place in her heart. Once
abused, over a long period, Evie Rose was nursed back to health by Dolly
Goodpuppy, before being adopted by mom and dad. In lieu of flowers, it would
have delighted her if memorial contributions could be sent to Dolly
Goodpuppy Society, P.O. Box 361, Barnesville, GA 30204, giving them the
ability to save many more Evie Roses’ and Lilys’.
Fletcher-Day Funeral Home of Thomaston is in charge of all arrangements.
Flowers, donations, condolences and remembrances may be expressed at
www.fletcherdayfuneralhome.com.
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