Date: 2/19/2008
<br>Author: Devin Pickard
<br>Title: Thomas Andrew Hudgins
<br><br>The Lord has blessed Angie and I with three kids that we love more than life itself.  If need be, either one of us would throw ourselves in front of a speeding bus if we thought it would keep one hair on their heads from being harmed.  I dare say any of you with children understand exactly what we feel.  Now, let me be frank.  Those three are gonna be it.  Kaylee, Jordan and Ruby will wind it up for us.  Nada.  No more.  Finito.  Three seems to be the magic number.  As we draw near the age of 40 (Angie gets there a lot sooner than me by the way), we already are very aware of the amount of time, energy, and money that goes into raising 3 kids.  Many of you feel our pain (sometimes literally).....and some much more than us because you have more than 3 offspring.  All I’ve got to say to those who have more than 3 is that we are praying for you....the good Lord knows you need it.<br><br>  I know folks who have 4, 5, even 6 children, and I don’t see how they manage.  But try this one on for size.  What if you had 16?  Yes, I mean kids.  Yes, all in the same family.  Yes, all having the same mom and dad.  Can you imagine?  I can’t....but you know who could?  Ollie and Annie Lou Hudgins.  In the early part of the 20th century, this Grays Bend couple started having kids....and just kept on having them.  8 boys and 8 girls.....Stanley, Bertha Mae, Andrew, Wayne, Geneva, Russell, Luther, Johnny, Floy, Dale, Ray, Dorothy, Georgia, Paul, Hilda and Barbara.  Whew.....let me stop and catch my breath for a second.  I’m sure Mr. Ollie and Ms. Annie didn’t set a world’s record, but it sure wasn’t because they didn’t give it the ole’ college try.<br><br>This past Sunday, for the seventh time, the Hudgins siblings gathered together to lay to rest another one of their own....Thomas Andrew Hudgins.  Brother Hudgins was a simple man who lived a simple life.  By vocation, Andrew worked for the highway department and fixed small engines.  But to be honest, that was probably the smallest piece of the pie in his life.  Andrew was extremely proud of his military service, just as his brothers before him and after.  Having served in the Navy in WWII aboard the USS Intrepid, Mr. Hudgins was a highly decorated veteran.  As important as that was to him, he would tell you he was just as proud to be a highly decorated veteran in the Lord’s Army.  From birth, Andrew and the rest of the Hudgins crew were raised in the Christian way.  Think about it....they had an entire congregation under their own roof.  I don’t know that there has been a time in the life of the Fairfield Church of Christ, on either side of the highway mind you, where there has not been at least a few of the Hudgins family that were a part of the fold....and that doesn’t even count the nieces, nephews, and cousins.  Mr. Andrew was one of the main cogs that kept the Fairfield machine running smoothly.  For many years, he and Mrs. Louise were the first ones to get to the church building, making sure all the doors were unlocked and all the lights were turned on.  Not only that, he regularly counted the attendance, and pretty much did just whatever needed to be done.  That was Mr. Hudgins in a nutshell....faithful to his God, his country, and his family.<br><br>The faithfulness that Andrew showed his own family was reflected back to him, especially the last few years of his life.  His Proverbs 31 wife, Ms. Louise, and one of his best friends in the world who just happened to be his son, Jerry,  tried to continue to make life as normal as they could for him after he went to the nursing home.  There was not hardly a day that went by in which Mr. Hudgins would not see at least one, if not both of them.  Andrew was so proud of his grandson Greg, and his two great-grand daughters, Rachel Ann and Sidney Marie.  You wouldn’t be around him very long before he proudly mentioned them all with a grin.  I guess it just goes to show you, whether you have a family with a bunch or a few, you will always have enough love to go around if your heart is big enough.  I bet Mr. Hudgins did break the world record on that one.<br>          <br>                                                                                                                     Go the extra mile - Devin               <br><br>