Bob was born in Lackey, Mississippi to Emma Lucille and Homer Graves Hudnall. As a child, his family moved to Livingston, Alabama. He always remembered what a clean town it was -- small-town USA -- full of hard working families… good people! Livingston was a place that he loved dearly. His daughter Ruth took him back for a visit in the fall of 2018. He stood proudly on the steps of the Sumter County Court House for a photograph, as it was where he had been drafted into the United States Army in 1952 and served until 1954 at the end of the Korean War.
Bob loved God, his family, his country, the transportation industry, and woodworking. He worked for various transportation firms over the span of 43 years, and he retired in 1997 after a long, happy, and successful career with Yellow Freight System.
After retirement, Bob could often be found in his woodshop. He made beautiful furniture, tree forts, play-houses, planters, Christmas décor, toys, carved desk signs, and cutting boards -- some made with the most exquisite and exotic woods and others made with found or re-purposed materials. He was a maker! He would hear one’s request, design it, build it, and then give it away -- always. His creations were never sold, always gifted!
His parents, five sisters, three brothers, and his beloved grandson, Norris Williamson McGehee, Jr, preceded Bob in death. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Ann Bagley Hudnall; son, Robert Bryan Hudnall, Jr. (Kathy) of Como, MS; Daughters, Ruth Hamilton and Lauren McGehee (Norris), of Germantown, TN; sisters, Amanda Gates and Sandra Bounds of Macon, MS; Mary Jo Franklin of Hernando, MS; 7 grandchildren; and 5 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be at 9 a.m. with funeral service to follow at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, March 14, at Memphis Funeral Home, Poplar Chapel, 5599 Poplar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Point Honduras, PO Box 1057, Cordova, TN 38088 or online: www.orphanos.org, and then select Point Honduras as the ministry; Page Robbins, 1961 S. Houston Levee Road, Collierville, TN 38017, or online: www.pagerobbins.org, or to a charity of the donor’s choice.
