Dear Community,
It is with a broken heart that I write to share the news that our Beloved John Hudson passed away on Thursday, September 5, 2024. His health had taken a sudden and precipitous turn for the worse and we lost him very unexpectedly.
Twelve years ago, a tan SUV pulled into the gravel parking lot at the first L’Arche house. I stood at the bottom of the ramp next to Jessica, Sara, and Curt, somewhat nervously waiting to meet John. He stepped out of the car with his parents (Gué and Bill) and started walking toward us, kicking his heels along the pavement. I think he introduced himself in his signature confident, but very polite, “Hi, I’m John Hudson,” shook our hands, and we were off. Just weeks prior, John had surprised even his Mom by accepting Curt’s invitation to be a founding Core Member. “Sure Curt, I’m a team player,” he had said. “You can count on me.” And a team player he was and count on him we did.
I don’t think any of us had any idea how significant his arrival in our lives would turn out to be. Over the years, more and more people shared life with John and the circle of his influence just kept getting bigger and bigger. On Sunday night, nearly 50 people came together on short notice–L’Arche community members, current and former, faithful friends, family members, and loved ones–all called together to pause and remember this beautiful man’s life and the impact a relationship with him had on all of us.
John was many things to us in L’Arche. He was a founding core member, a leader and builder of community, a lover of music with an eclectic taste, a private but joyous dancer, and he had the absolute best laugh in the world. His love language was playful trash-talk and his emotional intelligence was unlike any we’ve ever known. His phone calls were legendary: thank you calls or voicemails for a donation, check-in calls because he’d heard you were going through a hard time, scheduling calls to make sure this or that was confirmed or needed to be rescheduled, the “I’ll make sure you stay awake while you drive in traffic” calls, or “supervision” calls (though I’m not entirely sure who was supervising who in his mind). We will all miss the name “John Hudson” popping up on our screens and the sound of his voice on the other end.
Please keep the Hudson family in your prayers, including Will and Burt (his brothers) who John had such close relationships with. This loss hits at a depth we can't begin to imagine. Family was extremely important to John and he valued every single member (including 2 sisters-in-law, 3 nephews, and a niece) and spoke of them all the time.
Please keep the members of the Mead Road community in your prayers: Terry and Patrick, his “brothers” who he shared life with for over eleven years, Corbin; his faithful housemate who shared life with him for 6 years before helping to found our second L’Arche house; Milo, his new little “brother” and housemate who he helped teach how to be a L’Arche core member; the incredible, funny, and resilient assistant team (Taylor, Becca, Lis, Jess, Mary, Isaiah, Anthony, Dan, and Alena) who sacrificed so much to fiercely protect John and who now live with his daily absence.
John’s memorial service was held on September 21 at the Julia Thompson Smith Chapel at Agnes Scott College. A reception followed at the Bullock Science Center. In honor of John’s love of wearing hats (he rarely left the house without one!) we wore ball caps at the reception.
In the end, we are so grateful for 12 years of community life with John. He taught us so much and while it’s unimaginable to think of L'Arche Atlanta without him, he has left an indelible mark on our community. L’Arche Atlanta will forever be a place of mutual relationship, playful mischief, excellent professional care, and the courage to continuously welcome new people and share the good news of what it means to build community for people of ALL abilities.
Thank you, John, for guiding us and loving us so well.
With lots of care,
Tim
P.S. For those of you who are local and would like to support the Mead Road house, we've put together a Meal Train and you can sign up here.
It is with a broken heart that I write to share the news that our Beloved John Hudson passed away on Thursday, September 5, 2024. His health had taken a sudden and precipitous turn for the worse and we lost him very unexpectedly.
Twelve years ago, a tan SUV pulled into the gravel parking lot at the first L’Arche house. I stood at the bottom of the ramp next to Jessica, Sara, and Curt, somewhat nervously waiting to meet John. He stepped out of the car with his parents (Gué and Bill) and started walking toward us, kicking his heels along the pavement. I think he introduced himself in his signature confident, but very polite, “Hi, I’m John Hudson,” shook our hands, and we were off. Just weeks prior, John had surprised even his Mom by accepting Curt’s invitation to be a founding Core Member. “Sure Curt, I’m a team player,” he had said. “You can count on me.” And a team player he was and count on him we did.
I don’t think any of us had any idea how significant his arrival in our lives would turn out to be. Over the years, more and more people shared life with John and the circle of his influence just kept getting bigger and bigger. On Sunday night, nearly 50 people came together on short notice–L’Arche community members, current and former, faithful friends, family members, and loved ones–all called together to pause and remember this beautiful man’s life and the impact a relationship with him had on all of us.
John was many things to us in L’Arche. He was a founding core member, a leader and builder of community, a lover of music with an eclectic taste, a private but joyous dancer, and he had the absolute best laugh in the world. His love language was playful trash-talk and his emotional intelligence was unlike any we’ve ever known. His phone calls were legendary: thank you calls or voicemails for a donation, check-in calls because he’d heard you were going through a hard time, scheduling calls to make sure this or that was confirmed or needed to be rescheduled, the “I’ll make sure you stay awake while you drive in traffic” calls, or “supervision” calls (though I’m not entirely sure who was supervising who in his mind). We will all miss the name “John Hudson” popping up on our screens and the sound of his voice on the other end.
Please keep the Hudson family in your prayers, including Will and Burt (his brothers) who John had such close relationships with. This loss hits at a depth we can't begin to imagine. Family was extremely important to John and he valued every single member (including 2 sisters-in-law, 3 nephews, and a niece) and spoke of them all the time.
Please keep the members of the Mead Road community in your prayers: Terry and Patrick, his “brothers” who he shared life with for over eleven years, Corbin; his faithful housemate who shared life with him for 6 years before helping to found our second L’Arche house; Milo, his new little “brother” and housemate who he helped teach how to be a L’Arche core member; the incredible, funny, and resilient assistant team (Taylor, Becca, Lis, Jess, Mary, Isaiah, Anthony, Dan, and Alena) who sacrificed so much to fiercely protect John and who now live with his daily absence.
John’s memorial service was held on September 21 at the Julia Thompson Smith Chapel at Agnes Scott College. A reception followed at the Bullock Science Center. In honor of John’s love of wearing hats (he rarely left the house without one!) we wore ball caps at the reception.
In the end, we are so grateful for 12 years of community life with John. He taught us so much and while it’s unimaginable to think of L'Arche Atlanta without him, he has left an indelible mark on our community. L’Arche Atlanta will forever be a place of mutual relationship, playful mischief, excellent professional care, and the courage to continuously welcome new people and share the good news of what it means to build community for people of ALL abilities.
Thank you, John, for guiding us and loving us so well.
With lots of care,
Tim
P.S. For those of you who are local and would like to support the Mead Road house, we've put together a Meal Train and you can sign up here.
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