Larger than Life

I never knew my grandfather - he died years before I was born; but Philip Dexter Hudgins, was apparently someone who was colorful, exhuberant, larger than life.

"Deck," was born in 1891, most likely in Montgomery County, VA. In April of 1914, he eloped with 17 year old Lucy Williams, of Newport News. There was a huge scandal when they married - Deck and Lucy had tried to elope once before and were caught. The second time, the two arranged to have a car waiting for them at a designated, and Lucy snuck out the back door of a public building. When they eloped, Lucy's aunt called the police. There was a story in the newspaper the next day.

Deck was a man of many talents. He spent a few years with the railroad - Norfolk and Western - odd jobs, coaling, working the rails, etc. Depression hit before he could get hired as an engineer. During the Depression, Deck and Lu moved to be with family in Salem. The Hudgins family lived a number of places. At one time they were living on the Showalter or Beemer farm around 10 miles outside of Roanoke. Deck and Lu worked on the radio station, WDBJ, where Lucy played the piano and Deck told jokes. The same radio station had Lester Flatt as a regular on Charlie's Harmonizers from 1935 to 1939, about the same time that Deck and Lu had their show. They had a half an hour show where Lucy played the piano and Deck told jokes. It was sponsored by the Orange Crush bottling Company (Big Boy?). Dexter and Lucy also spent a little time as traveling salesmen, selling gold and other items as they could.

Around 1939-40, Deck went to work for Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Radford, VA. It was operated under contract with Hercules Powder Company and was build by the New York firm of Mason and Hanger. It was a newly constructed powder plant, where Deck designed the rail system inside the plant for delivery of goods along the assembly line. There are pictures of the plant and a good story of the plant in th Roanoke Times of 1941.

Finally in 1943, he got offered a job with the Maritime Commission in Baltimore. His daughter remembers him in Baltimore, sitting behind the home plate at Orioles games and getting rowdy with the umpire. He also had a reputation for being a drinker and a fighting man. Dexter Hudgins was passionate about life in many ways. In 1945 that passion left him when he died of a heart attack, leaving behind a wife and five children.