The Rev. Irving G. Rudolph died Dec. 28, 2013, at the age of 90. Mr. Rudolph served as the associate pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Florence, Ala., for 24 years, from 1966 until 1990 when he retired. On his retirement the congregation elected him as the associate pastor emeritus. After his retirement he served a brief interim as stated supply for the Copeland Presbyterian Church near Athens, and for 10 years he was the stated supply for the Old Brick Presbyterian Church in Muscle Shoals.
As a member of North Alabama Presbytery, besides serving as chairman of several Presbytery committees over the years, he also served a term as moderator of the Presbytery and a short time as the Presbytery’s stated clerk. It was while serving as the president of the Florence Ministerial Association that the Cooperative Community Ministry (the Help Center) was organized in 1983. Mr. Rudolph has been an active member of the Florence Kiwanis Club for over 40 years. He served on the board of the Montreat Apartments for several years and has been active in the Institute for Learning in Retirement at the University Of North Alabama since its beginning in 1990.
Prior to moving to Florence, the Rev. Rudolph was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Porterdale, Ga., for eight years. Before that, from 1953, upon graduating from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., until 1958 he was the pastor of three churches in and near Shepherds Town, W.Va.
Mr. Rudolph was married twice. His first wife was Jean Ann Jernigan Rudolph, who died in 1977. She was the mother of his two sons, Eugene Carl Rudolph (deceased) and Jonathan Rudolph, who is the father of two daughters, Jean Ann Gault, the mother of Annsley and Brooks Gault, and Emily Michelle Rudolph, the mother of Carly Jean. Mr. Rudolph’s second beloved wife of 28 years was Flora Skipper Rudolph, who died in December 2007.
Before entering the ministry, Mr. Rudolph was a hydrographic engineer with the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Service working in Labrador, Newfoundland; Puerto Rico; Cuba; Trinidad; and Venezuela. He was a civil engineer graduate from North Carolina State. Mr. Rudolph grew up in North Carolina where he finished high school in Hickory, N.C. After finishing two years of college at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., he entered the U.S. Army during World War II, serving overseas in Italy in the 133rd Regiment of the 34th Infantry Division.
The service in celebration of the Rev. Rudolph’s life and ministry will be conducted in the First Presbyterian Church on Jan. 2, 2014, at 11 a.m., with Dr. Richard T. Gillespie officiating.
Visitation will be from, 9:30 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014.
All active elders of the church will be honorary pallbearers.
Burial will take place at the Greenview Memorial Park, where his first wife is buried.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Florence or to the charity of your choice .
