Nellie "Iris" Hudson

Nellie "Iris" (Nunley) Hudson passed away in San Antonio on Thursday, November 1, 2012, at the age of 91. There will be a period of visitation with family and friends at the Groesbeck Funeral Home from 11:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 4. Graveside services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, November 4, 2012, at Cobb Cemetery (see directions at end of this obituary.) Brother Tommy Middlebrook, Church of Christ minister and family friend, will officiate. A celebration of her life will be held at the home of family at a later date. Iris was born on a farm in Oletha, Texas, on January 17, 1921, and grew up picking cotton on her dad’s sharecropper farm. She was salutatorian of the 1939 class of Groesbeck High School. As an Army wife of William “Ray” Hudson, she took 3 small daughters by ship to live in Japan in 1949, where their fourth daughter was born. After returning to the states she took 5 daughters to live in Japan in 1952 and then to Alaska in 1954. Twin sons were born in Alaska, and when Ray retired from the Army in 1956, they went to live on the family farm near Thornton, Texas. Another daughter, their eighth child, was born in Groesbeck. While living in the Groesbeck area, she was a member of the Groesbeck Church of Christ. Later she was a member of Crestview Church of Christ in Waco and MacArthur Park Church of Christ in San Antonio. Iris enjoyed Ladies’ Bible Study at church and was active in the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW, playing card games, 42 and Bingo with her many friends. Iris is survived by her children and their spouses, Nancy Rash, Evelyn Biery, Marilyn Tucker, Susan Eddleman and husband Gary, Sherrie Barkman and husband Reeder, William Hudson and wife Rhea, Philip Hudson and wife Charlene, Corliss Englert and husband Bradley. Also surviving her are 14 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, William Ray Hudson, her parents, Hubert and Vernice Nunley, her brothers Archie and Preston Nunley, her sister Doris Grimes, granddaughter Theresa Hudson, grandson Bradley Barkman, and sons-in-law Wade Rash and Wayne Tucker. Iris and Ray were married for just a few days short of 60 years when he passed away in 1999. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, or the Church of Christ, 203 S. Ellis Street, Groesbeck, TX 76642. ...Directions to Cobb Cemetery: From Groesbeck, at intersection of Hwy. 164 E and FM 937, turn on FM 937 toward Lake Limestone; a few miles out of Groesbeck, at the "Red Hill" community, turn right on LCR 760 and right again on LCR 776 until reaches LCR 778.