Hudson Family Establishes Endowment Fund for Short-term Training Programs

Oct. 25, 2024 – The Richmond Community College Foundation recently celebrated the creation of a new endowment fund that will support short-term training programs.

The Eugene T. Hudson Jr. & Ronald M. Hudson Family Endowment will provide scholarships for students who enroll in short-term training programs such as Welding, Machining, Industrial Systems Technician, Electric Lineman, Surgical Technician, Medical Assisting, Nurse Assisting and any future programs developed for construction, trades or other engineering technologies.

“Our family is here today to make an endowment gift to Richmond Community College to help ensure that scholarship money is available to students or anyone who desires to better themselves,” said Tom Hudson Jr.

The endowment fund bears Tom’s name and his brother’s name, Ronnie, who passed away in 2021, but it honors a family’s legacy of hard-working, community orientated people.

The Hudson family is known for its successful paving and construction business, Hudson Paving Inc., which had been in operation for 61 years before being purchased in June by a corporation from Alabama. It is now operating as Fred Smith Company in North Carolina.

In 1961, Tom and Ronnie’s father, Eugene T. Hudson Sr., and Eugene Brent McLaurin formed the construction company Hudson-McLaurin Inc. Two years later in 1963, Hudson Sr. started Hudson Paving Inc. He served as president of the company, and his wife, Mary G., was both the secretary and treasurer.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Tom showed off a pocket-sized book that belonged to his father. In it, his father recorded the cost of materials for projects.

“He’s got here, asphalt one ton, $6.50 a ton. Now asphalt costs $80 to $100 a ton. For the sales tax, he’s got 20 cents. Things were pretty cheap back in the 1960s,” Tom said.

His father’s book also contained quotes for the construction of the DeWitt Building, which is one of the older buildings built on RichmondCC’s Hamlet Campus.

Tom and brother Ronnie grew up in the family business working part-time during the summers and eventually becoming full-time employees.

“Ronnie and I worked hard, long hours with our family business, along with our father and mother, helping move Hudson Paving forward,” Tom said. “Our business plan was BYB: Bust Your Butt, and we did that.”

Their mother kept the books for the company until her health started failing in the late 1970s. Hudson Sr. hired Brenda Herring in 1980 to take over Mary’s duties, and she stayed with the company for 44 years.

Tom recognized her and other dedicated people who worked for Hudson Paving for many years.

“Hudson Paving, in those 61 years, would not be doing what it is doing today with this endowment gift if were not for all the great hard-working employes of the past and present,” Tom said.

Dr. Dale McInnis, president of RichmondCC, explained how the endowment fund will support the College’s effort to modernize and transform its short-term training programs.

“Not everybody has the time and money to spend two years in college. They have greater urgencies to get the skills they need to go to work. For some years now, we have been building programs that give them what they need with the same quality and content but in a condensed version,” McInnis said. “What this endowment will do for perpetuity is to provide scholarships directly to those students to help them cover the costs of these programs. These scholarships will change their lives in a powerful and permanent way.”

McInnis thanked the family for their generosity and for trusting RichmondCC with this investment.