Ida was never one to seek personal recognition. She was a workhorse, not a show horse. However, she wielded enormous influence behind the scenes in numerous civic endeavors. Her love of her community was deep and genuine, and her personal interest and efforts to improve the lives of its citizens – especially its young and vulnerable citizens – have benefited countless individuals.
On Wednesday, as I stood in the line of individuals waiting to pay their respects to the Hudson family, I realized how fortunate I was to have had the privilege of witnessing “up close and personal” some of Ida Hudson’s work on behalf of children with special needs. She was the driving force behind the Callaway Foundation’s funding of a nationally known consultant from New York to come to LaGrange and establish state-of-the-art public school resource rooms for children with learning disabilities. In the mid-1970’s, there were relatively few such programs in Georgia. Ida wanted to make sure that LaGrange children had strong programs to meet their needs.
Her interest in children with learning disabilities was not confined just to the children in the Troup County community. She was responsible for the Callaway Foundation’s funding the Georgia Public Broadcast production of a 10-tape video series that enabled teachers and children throughout Georgia to learn how to establish and implement top-flight resource room programs. Those tapes, together with a curriculum implementation manual paid for by the Callaway Foundation, were made available to every public school system in Georgia. They are still in use today in many places in our state. Without Ida’s influence and advocacy, these projects would not ever have come to fruition.
Ida had no pretensions about her and was quick to spot and see through pretentiousness in other people. That may be one of the reasons she enjoyed and was good at dealing with children. She and the children she worked with took each other at face value. She volunteered numerous hours in the public schools tutoring children who struggled with learning.
Ida Hudson had both passion and compassion when it came to helping children who struggled with physical or neurological disabilities. She also gave her time to assist many individual families of children with more pronounced disabilities by serving as a patterner for children on very rigorous home programs. She helped establish and support the sheltered workshop program in Troup County.
It is easy to forget that most of the services now available for children with special needs in our schools and in our communities didn’t exist 40 years ago. Were it not for the interest, advocacy and action of people like Ida Hudson, we would not have the services that we have today.
I mourn Ida’s death, but am thankful for her life and for her service to so many others who will never know her. LaGrange was blessed to have her as a life-long, caring citizen. I am greatly blessed to have had her as a dear and cherished friend.
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