Gertrude Beth Hudson, daughter of George H. (1857-1941) and Emma L. (Stowell) (1864-1946) Hudson, was born 12 February 1896 Clarkston, Oakland County, Michigan.  Gertrude's father, a minister, was pastor from 1889-1892 of Okemos Baptist Church.  Gertrude in 1912 graduated from Okemos High School.  After graduation she attended and graduated in 1917 from Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C., later Michigan State College, Michigan State University). She married 5 July 1915, Okemos, Ingham County, Michigan, Russell James McCurdy who went on to become a physician and surgeon.

 

Russell, born 22 September 1892 Lansing, Ingham County, graduated from Michigan Agricultural College in 1916.  Russell played MAC football in the position of guard and was placed on the 1912 All-Western College Football Team by Fielding H. Yost, head football coach at University of Michigan, in the Detroit Free Press (reference: Google).  Russell went on for his medical degree at the University of Wisconsin and also served in the US Navy during World War I.

Gertrude and Russell had 2 children, Katherine Eileen, born 1917, and Wells Booth, born 1919.  The family moved in 1919 to King County, Washington State where Russell practiced and later became president of the King County Medical Association.

The M.A. C. Record, Vol. 25, Page 9, December 12, 1919, Published by The Michigan Agricultural College Association, East Lansing, Michigan.

Dr. Russell J. McCurdy since his discharge from service, has been practicing medicine at Seattle, Washington.  Dr. and Mrs. McCurdy (Gertrude Hudson, with '17) are living at 3042 15th Ave., west.

 

The M.A. C. Record, Page 13, March 12, 1920, Published by The Michigan Agricultural College Association, East Lansing, Michigan.

Dr. Russell J. McCurdy (with) and Mrs. McCurdy (Gertrude Hudson, with '17) are living in Seattle, Washington, at 3042 15th Ave. West.  "Since being discharged from the Navy in June, 1919" he writes, "have been enjoying a very busy practice here in Seattle with Mrs. McCurdy and two youngsters, Eileen, 2 1/2 years, and Wells, 7 months.  We all think there is no place like the west.  We greatly enjoyed a meeting of M.A.C.-its recently in the home of Josephine Hart, '13."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gertrude was killed in an auto accident 24 March 1929, Seattle, King County, Washington.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Monday 25 March 1929

FORMER RESIDENT KILLED IN WEST

MRS. GERTRUDE MCCURDY IS VICTIM; HUSBAND, ONCE M.S.C. GRID STAR, HURT

Mrs. Gertrude McCurdy, of Seattle, Wash., daughter of Rev. George Hudson and Mrs. Hudson, of Okemos, was killed in an automobile accident near her home Sunday night, according to word received here.  Her husband, Dr. Russell McCurdy, is in a hospital with injuries received in the same accident.

Both Mr. and Mrs. McCurdy are graduates of Michigan State college, the former having been a football star during his college days.  Besides the husband and parents, Mrs. McCurdy leaves two children, Eileen and Wells; three brothers, Howard Hudson and Theodore Hudson both of Lansing, and Ralph Hudson of East Lansing and two sisters, Mrs. George Bearup, Okemos and Mrs. G. C. White, Reading, Mich.  It is expected that burial will be in Seattle.

Doctor McCurdy played tackle on the Michigan State football teams of 1911 and 1912.

Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) Tuesday 26 March 1929

MICHIGAN WOMAN DIES IN AUTO CRASH IN WEST

Lansing, March 25 - Mrs. Gertrude McCurdy, wife of Dr. Russell McCurdy, former football star at Michigan State college, and daughter of George Hudson, of Okemos, was killed in an automobile accident near her home at Seattle, Wash., Sunday night, relatives were informed here today.  Dr. McCurdy was also injured but will recover, it was stated.

The Michigan State College Record, April 1929, Pages 10, 11

Established 1896, Member of the American Alumni Council,

Published for the alumni and former students of the Michigan State College by the M. S. C. Association.

MRS. GERTRUDE HUDSON MCCURDY, w'17

Mrs. Gertrude Hudson McCurdy was instantly killed and her husband, Russell J. McCurdy, w'16, seriously injured, in an automobile accident near their home in Seattle, Washington, March 24, 1929.  Mrs. McCurdy was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Hudson of Okemos, Michigan, and a sister of Ralph Hudson, '07, of East Lansing; Edith Hudson Bearup, '09, of Okemos; and Ethelyn Hudson White, '09, of Reading, Michigan. Besides her husband, she is survived by two children, Ilene 12 and Wells 9. (Eileen's name is misspelled)

Dr. McCurdy while returning from a hunting trip was killed in a horrific plane crash 01 November 1931.

The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan) Monday 2 November 1931

FIVE TRAPPED IN PLANE BY GAS EXPLOSION

North Bend, Wash., Nov. 2 - Homeward bound from a hunting trip, five men died when their plane fell on a highway near here yesterday and burst into flames.

The plane, piloted by John Blum, 32, Seattle, apparently was forced down by fog and rain.  Blum landed the craft in the middle of the highway, but the gasoline tank exploded and the five men were trapped in the cabin.

Besides Blum the victims were Dr. Russell J. McCurdy, president of the King County Seattle Medical Society; Arthur D. Hodge, 35, Ray Sutherland, 31, and Harold DeSpain, 30.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Thursday 5 November 1931

LEARN VICTIM OF CRASH M.S.C. MAN

DR. RUSSELL J. MCCURDY, KILLED IN PLANE ACCIDENT, PLAYED ON GRID TEAM

Dr. Russell J. McCurdy, president of the King County Medical association in Seattle, Wash., who was killed when an airplane in which he and four other men were returning from a hunting trip caught fire after a forced landing, was a former Michigan State college athlete.

An Associated Press dispatch from North Bend, Wash., carried the story of the tragedy in The State Journal Monday.

Lyman L. Frimodig, assistant director of athletics a M.S.C. and a former star all-around athlete, recalls that McCurdy was a guard on the famous "Aggie" teams in 1912 and 1913.  In 1913 the college beat the University of Michigan, 12 to 7, in a football game.  Mr. McCurdy did not graduate at the college, but took his medical work at the University of Wisconsin.

The Michigan State College Record, December 1931, Page 12

Established 1896, Member of the American Alumni Council,

Published for the alumni and former students of the Michigan State College by the M. S. C. Association.

IN MEMORIAM

RUSSELL JAMES MCCURDY, With 1916

Dr. Russell J. McCurdy, w'16, was killed November 1. 1931, when an airplane in which he and four other men were returning from a hunting trip crashed at Snoqualmie Pass, Washington.  He is survived by two children, Eileen 14, and Wells 12. Mrs. McCurdy, (Gertrude Hudson, w'17) was killed in an automobile accident near Seattle on March 24. 1929.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Tuesday 10 November 1931

MCCURDY CHILDREN WILL MAKE HOME IN OKEMOS

MOTHER, KILLED IN AUTO CRASH, WAS DAUGHTER OF GEORGE HUDSON; FATHER IN AIR MISHAP

Eileen, 14, and Welles (newspaper spelling), 12, the orphaned children of the late Dr. Russell J. McCurdy of Seattle, Wash., who was killed November 1 in an airplane crash, are expected to make their home in the future with the Rev. George H. Hudson of Okemos, father-in-law of Mr. McCurdy.

Mr. McCurdy was a former student at Michigan state college and played on the college football team.  He was the step-son of Thomas McCurdy of East Lansing and the nephew of Philo and James Woodworth of Meridian township.  Mrs. McCurdy, mother of the children, who are to live at the Hudson home, was killed in an automobile accident in March, 1929, according to Mr. Hudson.

Place of interment for Russell and Gertrude is unknown.  One newspaper article mentioned Gertrude being buried in a Seattle cemetery.