Rudd stories

Fleta posted a photo of the Rudd siblings and she only named 4. A good excuse for her is that was all she knew but the complete list is... Fred, Frank, Francis,Carl Dean,Billy Joe and Lois.

Carl Dean died in Europe during the war. Ann Rudd told me the family was told that he was a squad leader and he was leading his men inside a church after he reached the porch he stopped to let his men pass to safety and a sniper shot him. He died on the porch of that church. Frank died while in the service in the U S of A . He was murdered as far as I know no one every was punished for his death.

Aunt Francis grieved for years over Carl Dean dying. She had a photo framed hanging in her front room. I wonder who has the photo now?

Frank Rudd lived and made it home but he had a drinking problem and reenlisted and was found dead on the base, no one every knew why, it but supposed he had made enemies.

In 1946 Richard and me would ride to town on Saturday with daddy. he would leave us in the car while he went in the grocery store to buy our food for the week. On the same side of the street, where the Bank is now was a bar. The high light of our day would be the "FIGHT".

We had a ring side seat to the fight. Frank Rudd and some poor fool would come out of the bar and the men would gather around to watch the fight. I remember they boxed just like the boxing matched you see on TV. Frank was always the winner.

We always had big stories to tell Jimmy and Donnie when we saw them next time about their uncle Frank fighting. Frank always won and it is a comment on the times no one tried to interfere with the men fighting it was excepted as normal behavior. There was no law in Green Forest in that time.

As long as I am telling stories on the Rudd's I will tell about the one who died during the tornado that blew Green Forest away in 1927.

There were two Rudd brothers one had a pretty wife and the other brother was guilty of coveting his brothers wife, some think that he did more than just thinking about that sin.

Things were coming to head pretty fast in the family and the "coveting wife brother" was murdered during the storm. Nothing was ever done to find his killer and most people felt he got what he deserved and that his brother had killed him. Ann Rudd told me she had the dead man's black hat in her house. It was considered a family heirloom but I guess it was burned when the Rudd house burnt unless one of the girls took it when they sold the place. These two men were Onie Rudd's brothers. Onie Rudd was Aunt Francis's father.

I thought of another Rudd story... There was a man that lived at Denver ,John Dee was his name. John Dee's wife and was old and not well so their children got a young girl to stay with them and help their mother. Old John Dee was in his 80's at least and this girl who was considered not to bright showed up pregnant. The rumor was that John Dee said he ate a lot of steak and that made him sexual active. Billy Joe like to tease Aunt Francis so he told aunt Francis he was taking their daddy steak to eat every day. Aunt Francis threatened Billy Joe . Mrs. Rudd was dead and Mr. Rudd had a lady Friend that he kept company with and aunt Francis didn't like the fact that her daddy was keeping company with this lady.