Rev. Garland L. Rudd

Rev. Garland L. Rudd, 88, of North Vernon passed away Monday, September 8, 2014 at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. He was born near Lee City in Clay County, Kentucky on June 12, 1926 the son of Dorsey and Goldie Miller Rudd. He was married to Loredith "Bea" Nickell on April 17, 1948 and she preceded him in death on November 16, 2008. Survivors include one son Ronald (Ginny) Rudd of Westport; one daughter Sheila (Dennis) Schuler of North Vernon; 8 grandchildren Jeff and Kevin Luedtke, Jennifer Jones, Melissa Patterson, Angie Moore, and Gary, Lacey, and Ryan Rudd; 14 great-grandchildren; one brother Ottis (Glinda) Rudd of Lexington, Kentucky. He was also preceded in death by his parents, his daughter Gail Luedtke, great-grandson Benjamin Wren, his sister Christine Marie Tolson, and his brothers Mervin Dean Rudd, Carl B. Rudd, Melvin C. Rudd, and Odus G. Rudd. Pastor Rudd, as he was affectionately known, founded and pastored the Cedar Creek Community Church near Osgood for 51 years, beginning in 1963 in what was an abandoned Methodist Church. He was also a retired tool and die maker for Reliance Electric for 38 years and had been named a Kentucky Colonel. But above all and until his last day, he was first and foremost a Minister of the Gospel. A minute into a conversation, stranger or friend, the pastor would want to know if you were attending church. Funeral services for Rev. Rudd will be held at his beloved Cedar Creek Community Church on Friday, September 12 at 10:30am with his nephew Rev. Wayne Tolson and his grandson Rev. Jeff Luedtke officiating. Burial will be in the Vernon Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday from 4pm to 8pm at the Stratton-Karsteter Funeral Home in Versailles and from 9:30am to time of services Friday at the church. Memorials may be given to the Cedar Creek Church, the Gail Rudd Luedtke Scholarship Fund, or the Gideons in care of the funeral home.