Billy John Rudd (1916 - 2005)

Born 24 Oct 1916 in Dallas, Dallas County, TEXAS

Ancestors

Husband of Billie Joe (Grimes) Rudd — married 17 Oct 1942 (to 8 Sep 2002) in Houston, Harris, Texas, United States

Descendants

Died 25 Oct 2005 at age 89 in Tomball, Harris County, TEXAS

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Carol Thompson [send private message]

Biography

My father was born in Dallas, TEXAS to a commercial construction boss father and a mother who, as a young woman, had come to Dallas from Oklahoma to find employment opportunities as a stenographer. She taught both of her sons to want to achieve scholastic and athletic goals. As a young man, he worked learning about construction on some of his father’s John Malry Rudd’s jobsites, learning skills and earning money for college. He was red headed, freckled, 6’2” tall and slender, hardened from years of hard construction work. He chose TEXAS Agricultural & Mechanical College, at the time an all-male military training public institution, because of the advanced construction and petroleum featured academic milieu. He was, as all students at the time, a member of the Corp of Cadets, military training. TEXAS A & M had been, during WWI days a major training center, a remount center, of cavalry officers, supplying men and horses for those needs, second only to West Point. He majored in petroleum engineering. He met the love of his life Billie Joe Grimes, a blind date, when they attended an Aggie football game at legendary Kyle Field there at Bryan, College Station, on campus. They decided to complete their college educations before making future plans. Billy John Rudd is Class of ’41. However, WWII caught his and fellow students education plans. He along with most of his class applied for military service. He however was rejected because of a physical factor, phlebitis. He thought he could outwit recruiters by driving across the TEXAS border to New Mexico, to sign up there; but was similarly classified as 4F. He married Billie Joe Grimes, a raven haired beauty from Talpa, TEXAS October 17, 1942 in the height of WWII, despite rationing, travel restrictions. He was immediately snapped up for government service; his job to find oil to support the war effort. He and Billie Joe traveled through Wyoming, Georgia among other locations, then back home to TEXAS, all in pursuit of oil. It was during these travels that his new bride evidently ‘laid down the law’ about their new life together. After a Thanksgiving, a special holiday in TEXAS, feast that she lovingly prepared was abused by his oil field hard drinking chums, these two lifelong best friends came to an agreement; he was a church going man from that day forward. After the war, he was offered a management position with Sears & Roebuck, a national hardware store chain. He and Billie Joe raised their three children in Houston, TEXAS where they were instrumental in originating Broadway Baptist Church. He was a deacon, a church authority, served forever as an Usher, tithed until his last day on earth, but was always excused from choir duty as he couldn’t carry a tune to save his life! He and Billie Joe sent all three children, Carol Elizabeth, Jane Ellen, and JohnMark to the university of their choice, paid for everything. He and Billie Joe retired quickly after he had a heart attack in his late 50’s. They retired to the scenic and peaceful Canyon Lake area, then a home in New Braunfels, TEXAS to be closer to medical services, only to once again be instrumental in creating a new Baptist church, Oakwood Baptist. He was a faithful Christian family man, a role model, and his children call him blessed. That almost solid gold treasured Aggie ring, worn smooth by time, now the proudest possession of his son JohnMark Rudd. He and his beloved wife and best friend are buried in the Guadalupe Valley Cemetery between Seguin and New Braunfels, TEXAS….side by side always.

Sources

• Carol Elizabeth Rudd, oldest daughter.