Mrs. Ann D. Hudson

.Ann Dulin Hudson, loving wife and devoted mother and grandmother, passed away recently in Roswell, GA. Ann is survived by Steve, her husband and always her soulmate and best friend. She is also survived by her three children – Kathryn Marie Hudson of Ithaca, NY, Andrew Hudson (Brittany, Eli and Nora) of Greensboro, NC, and Nathan Glen Hudson (Elizabeth) of Charlotte, NC. She is also survived by sisters Jane House (Jeff) and Lynn Dulin and half sister Tanya Eason Ann was born January 27, 1955, in Griffin, GA, to Pat and Glen Dulin. She grew up in the Atlanta area and attended Wesleyan College in Macon and Georgia State University in Atlanta, studying church music and music education. Ann was married to Steve for 47 years. They met (in what Steve describes as a major stroke of good luck, though he does not specify for who!) in high school at the Governor’s Honors Program in Macon, Ga., and were (in Steve’s words) “just friends” for some time. But as Ann tells the story, something changed during the spring of her sophomore year in college. For one thing, Ann took up fly fishing, Steve’s favorite pastime, and became quite good at it. That was all it took, and they became engaged soon after, though following the engagement her interest in fly fishing diminished a bit. Steve mentioned that to Ann’s grandmother, who wisely answered, “Grandson, she caught the fish she wanted to catch!” Ann and Steve were married following graduation from college. The rest was one long love story – and a lot of fun. For example, Ann and Steve delighted in embarrassing their kids with public displays of affection, particularly when presents were being given or received. For example, at Christmastime, even her smallest gift to Steve would be acknowledged with a prolonged and enthusiastic kiss. This evoked all kinds of interesting responses from the kids, and Steve did not complain at all. Ann delighted in her three children – Kathryn, Andrew and Nathan, always a source of great pride. She enjoyed every minute with them as they grew up, and she was so proud of their accomplishments. She loved spending time with them and talking about them, and she always said that she could live anywhere at all as long as it had room for all of her kids to visit at one time. She also delighted in her two perfect grandchildren, Eli and Nora, who she called her “chickadees.” She relished every opportunity to spend time with the grandkids, playing or making things or snuggling or reading stories – or just talking together in that special way that only grandmothers and grandkids can do. Next to her family, Ann’s lifelong passion was music, particularly church music and singing. She studied vocal performance at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga., and completed graduate studies in music education at Georgia State University before going on to teach elementary music for many years in Texas and in Georgia. From her teen years, Ann had always been a volunteer in children’s choir programs. After she and Steve finally settled in Atlanta she increasingly focused on church music -- first as a volunteer, and then as a professional music staff member at Alpharetta First United Methodist Church. Along the way she built a widely respected children’s and youth choir program that helped thousands of young people find a lifelong appreciation of and love for music even as they learned valuable life lessons and grew in faith. For many years, she also directed two adult women’s ensembles which sang regularly in churches. Those ensembles also established a vital and vibrant ministry in the community by singing at senior centers, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes across the Atlanta area. It was a wonderful outreach, and the listeners often responded in unexpected ways. For example, Ann loved to tell the story of the elderly lady who stood up in the middle of one of the songs and began dancing a waltz. But her favorite story was of a lady in a memory care facility, a lady who was almost completely unresponsive to the world around her but who would gently tap a single finger to certain songs. Being able to reach her through music, Ann often said, was true ministry. Ann also enjoyed playing the piano, and she loved teaching piano and voice to young people. She taught private lessons to hundreds of students over the years, many of whom kept in touch with her even as they grew up and started families of their own. She understood the importance of making music fun, and her goal was always to instill a love of music that would last for the student’s entire life. Outside of music, Ann loved science fiction – especially Star Trek. She enjoyed Star Trek TV episodes and also had an extensive collection of Star Trek books, each of which she had read at multiple times. She would always make sure that she and the family were among the first to see every Star Trek movie as soon as it came out. She even had a pizza cutter shaped like the Starship Enterprise -- a Christmas gift from one of her children and one of her favorite possessions. Ann was an exceptional chef. She fixed the finest country fried steak and chocolate pie (both from recipes from her grandmothers) for miles around, and her scratch-made pizza was to die for. Her homemade cheese dip was legendary, too, especially among her kids and any of their friends who happened to be around! In recent years, Ann discovered a great fondness for birdwatching. Feeders on the back deck drew her feathered friends within easy viewing distance, and she loved to talk about the birds she had seen each day – especially if they were hummingbirds, which came often to the hummingbird feeder or to the lavish lantana plants which grew in large pots just beyond the window’s glass. In the last years of her life, Ann began to explore the world of watercolor painting. She had long wanted to learn to paint, and she found that it was something she truly enjoyed. Many evenings were spent painting with her daughter via Zoom, and you’d often hear the two of them laughing out loud as they did so -- often over what Ann described as her ongoing battle with the challenges of painting certain flowers Ann touched so many lives in so many ways, and she will be sorely missed by all that had the privilege of knowing her. A celebration of life service in memory of Ann will be held Saturday, July 16, at 3 p.m. at Northbrook United Methodist Church at 11225 Crabapple Road in Roswell, GA. Like Ann’s life, this service will be a true celebration filled with music and color and light. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ann’s memory to the Atlanta Audubon Society to support the birds that bring such color and song into our lives.

Mrs. Ann D. Hudson

January 27, 1955 - March 31, 2022