T-Dud was a Dud

I don't mean to sound too harsh--but I think that Tilford Dudley was a dud! I'm having a hard time with the fact that we're going to do this big exhibit and all of these presentations to honor his life, when now, after talking with his son today, I think he wasn't so cool. I guess it's part of the job though--sometimes you have to make exhibits at museums that deal with issues you don't necessarily agree with. So, I called Rick Dudley, T-Dud's son, out in Washington state this afternoon. He is a really nice guy, and we chatted for about an hour. The more I talked with him, though, the more heartbroken I became. Basically, it seems that T-Dud was an extreme workaholic. He was so in love with all of the causes for which he was fighting--anti-war, labor unions, etc., that he totally put his family on the back burner and just left them there.

Here are some more of Rick Dudley's quotes:

"He was a hard man to have as a father. The bar was set very high. He was a hard taskmaster."

"I was an incredible disappointment to him. He never said this out loud, but it was very clear to me. I was never able to please him."

"I never saw my dad cry. I don't think he even cried when my mom died. She was really sick for the last couple of weeks of her life, so I went out to DC to take care of her, but he really wasn't around at all during that time."

"My mom always said that she and my dad weren't a good match. She wanted a close relationship with him, but he wouldn't get close to anybody. She even talked of leaving him once, but she didn't."

Rick said that after he finished school, he asked his dad for advice about what to do with his life, wondering if he thought he should stay close by so that the family could be together. His dad said, "No, no. Get out of here—go get off of my coat tail! Get as far away from here as you can.” So Rick went to the library, looked at travel books, and decided to move to Washington state--where he has lived ever since. My advice for T-Dud, if I had the chance to speak with him, would be: "Try to take care of your family before you try to take over the world!"

When we were looking at photos at the Dudley house, Kristen found a 1950s Dudley Christmas photograph. Everyone looks so happy--Mom, Dad, kids, but when we saw it Kristen said, "It's all a facade! It's a lie!"

Well, now that I've gone off on my T-Dud tangent, I feel much better. :-) Today was a good day. I had a phone meeting with Hannah, the Arcadia Publishing editor who commissioned me to write the Zion National Park book, this morning. We had a really good chat and reviewed all of the author guidelines. The first part of the book we'll complete will be the cover. All of my cover materials are due in April, and then, even before the book is finished, they'll go ahead and have all of the book covers printed. They're even going to make advertising posters!

Today I went for a little drive over to Mattoon to kind of get myself oriented to the area a bit more. Mattoon is actually a pretty cool place. They have a couple of neat bookstores downtown, and some fun-looking restaurants. I'll have to spend more time over there someday. Other than that, I've been getting work done, went running, and am going to do more work tonight. If I had a husband and kids right now, I'd say that I work too much, but since it's just me for now, I guess it's okay. But I don't want to turn into a T-Dud workaholic! Tomorrow I'm driving up to Monticello to meet with the Piatt County Museum board about the grant we're going to write. That should be a fun adventure!