Russell Clement Judd

Russell Clement Judd passed away Monday, December 19, 2022, at St Catherine’s Hospice Center in Waco. Services will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 28, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home with Reverend Chris Rowe of Lorena Methodist Church officiating. Burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park. Visitation will be 5 – 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 27, in the Garden Room at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey.

Russell was born February 18, 1929 in Waco, and lived for the first eight years in the Hog Creek area, where he attended Speegleville Elementary School. At age eight, the family moved to the Spring Valley area where he lived the remainder of his life. He graduated from Lorena High School in 1946 and later married Patsy Ruth Hunter, also of Spring Valley. Russell ran a dairy, farmed, and ranched. He also worked many long nights at the Spring Valley Gin after working all day farming his own land. He also did custom farming for other members of the community. He was a member of the Spring Valley Methodist Church and then the Lorena Methodist Church, after the churches merged around 1950. Russell was elected to multiple terms on the Lorena Independent School District Board of Trustees and served as President of the Board for two different terms. Russell was the driving force behind bringing community water to the Spring Valley area in the 1960s. He spent many long hours ensuring the Spring Valley Water Supply Corporation was built. He was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for over 40 years, many of those years with no compensation. Water customers could call him anytime night or day and he would try to fix the problem. He simply was proud of the water system and wanted to make sure people had water, as he felt it was his responsibility. Patsy Ruth died in 1999 and in 2005, he married Betty Grote, also of the Spring Valley area.

He was preceded in death by his father, Clement Levert Judd; his mother, Thelma Marie Judd; and his first wife, Patsy Ruth Judd.

He is survived by his wife, Betty; son, Dr. Robert Judd and wife, Deborah, of Spring Valley; grandson, Randall Judd, of Lorena, and his wife, Portia; and two grandsons, Will and Sam.

Pallbearers will be Ken Mays, David Polley, Tim Sohns, Clint Murphy, Richard Westerfield, and Billl Woody.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Lorena Methodist Church.