Carl Victor Judd, 101, of Decatur, Alabama, sadly passed away on February 5, 2025 one week short of his 102nd birthday, at the Floyd E. “Tut” Fann State Veterans Home in Huntsville, Alabama.
Carl was born on February 12, 1923, in St. Joseph Missouri and adopted at just a few weeks old by Earl C. and Amma Judd. Carl graduated from LaFayette High School in 1940. Through mutual friends he met his wife-to-be, Mary Lou Sadler. They were married in Biloxi, MS on October 28, 1943, prior to Carl being sent overseas to England where he served as a flight engineer in the Army Air Corps. After he returned home in 1945, they began their 61 years of married life, soon adding three children to their family.
Carl was a mechanical engineer by trade and had a lengthy career spanning a wide variety of fields and industries including support to the Saturn V development in Huntsville. The family relocated often and enjoyed living in different regions of the country.
While residing in Texas, Carl was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses on April 1st, 1972. From that time on, he diligently participated in the ministry. He was a full-time minister for several years and served as a Ministerial Servant, assisting others in his local congregation.
Carl said he was never bored and maintained a variety of interests. He possessed a perpetually curious mind and was an avid reader until his sight failed in the very last years. He enjoyed building models, complex puzzles, playing cards and board games. He took his family on numerous vacations throughout the country, including Mexico and Canada. After the children left home, Carl and Mary continued their travels with his favorite destination being Hawaii.
A significant event for Carl happened at the age of 94, when his family discovered his birth mother, Beatrice P. Hagan, through extensive genealogy research. A first cousin had pictures of Carl’s mother and other family members which he kindly shared. Carl was subsequently able to travel to Kentucky and enjoyed meeting some of his birth family. He said many times how thankful he was for this discovery.
His family and friends will truly miss his remarkable ability to recall, in extraordinary detail, almost every moment of his fascinating life from a toddler until his last days. His memorable experiences were numerous and vast, with some shared just recently and some shared many, many times. For example, he survived a childhood lightning strike, traversed oceans, and continents as a flight engineer in England, purposely worked in contiguous states from the West to East coasts, was still driving across the country to explore new sights in his nineties and lived independently until the age of One Hundred. When asked for his secret to longevity, his favorite response was “Don’t Die”. His incredible memory captured a century of experiences and events and provides his family and friends an endless array of stories for the ages.
Carl was preceded in death by his parents, his loving wife, and grandson.
He is survived by his daughters, Penny Lee Stewart (David) of Decatur, Alabama, and Peggy Lee Newton (Michael) of Huntsville, AL, and son, Victor Calvin Judd (Mary Lynn) of Joliet, Illinois; eleven grandchildren; thirteen great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren
Carl’s family wishes to express their gratitude to the medical staff, technicians and caregivers at Decatur Health and Rehab Center and the Floyd E. “Tut” Fann Veterans Home for the care and support they provided.
The family would especially like to thank all the friends for their prayers, cards, and letters, as well as those who visited him and brought him his favorite food, candy.
Memorial Services for Carl V. Judd will be held at 1:00 P.M. Saturday, March 1, 2025 at The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Located at 2815 Sandlin Rd. Decatur, AL.
