Phil Hudgins
There are some people in life whose kindness, no matter how hard one tries, one can never repay — at least, that’s what I’ve discovered.
One such person is my uncle, Philip Hudgins. If this column gets published, it's likely that the readers would know him as Phil — that's his professional name. To his sister, my mother, — and to me — he is Philip.
For as long as I have been ethically aware enough to realize such things, I have felt indebted to Philip. My real indebtedness to him, though, goes further back than I realized for a long time — but more on that later.
The first thing I really remember feeling indebted to Philip for, oddly enough, was a tuxedo. When I was about 22 years old, Philip and his wife, Shirley, bought me a tuxedo for when our church choir performed at other venues.
Philip was in the choir with me, and knowing the tuxedo’s cost, he knew that my parents couldn’t afford to buy me one. He also knew that, as a young reporter at a small newspaper, I couldn’t afford to buy one, either. (As it happened, I was also indebted to Philip for my job at that newspaper — but more on that later, too.)
Anyway, soon I was asked to give my measurements to the clothier supplying the tuxes, so that Philip and Shirley could buy one for me. That tux served me well at several choir concerts, not to mention a few other black-tie events.
Philip might be amused to know that I still have it and, as far as I know, can still wear it — although I definitely need a new shirt for it.
Back to that newspaper job. I went to college as an English major, determined to go on to law school. In my junior year, I decided that three more years of school held no attraction for me. Earning a living did, however, and I had no clue how I was going to do that.
My mother knew that I could, to some extent, write. She also knew that both Philip and her other brother Kenneth — Ken in professional circles — had made a decent living in newspapers.
Mom talked to Philip, who was the Senior Editor for Community Newspapers, Inc. and he talked to a longtime colleague who was a CNI Regional Publisher. This gentleman agreed to hire me as an intern at one of CNI’s newspapers, and within a few months I had a full-time job there.
I worked in newspapers for 15 years — 11 of them for CNI. Along the way, Philip helped me get my first car. He also provided innumerable bits of advice, encouragement and occasionally correction that helped me along my path.
That path took an unexpected turn in 2011, when I left a job as publisher of one of CNI’s newspapers to move back to Memphis, Tenn. with my Memphis-native wife. The newspaper job I thought I had waiting fell through and I ended up working in an unrelated field for seven years. In 2018, desiring to get back to something closer to my skill set, I took a government job.
Philip, who is now retired from journalism, graciously asks me how that’s going every time we talk; but sometimes I wonder if he isn’t looking at me askance over the phone.
As to my deeper debt that I mentioned before: When I was about 15, my mother’s kidneys began failing. A severe diabetic, mom had feared this day would come. Having seen one of her cousins endure dialysis, mom desperately wanted to avoid that.
Philip volunteered to
test as a kidney donor for mom — and was a perfect match. They underwent the surgery — Philip had the worse time — and I, my sister and father got our mother/wife back. Mom kept that kidney for an amazing 32 years and while particularly in her last five years she had numerous other health problems, Philip’s incredibly generous gift gave her a quality of life that would have been impossible otherwise.
As I’ve gotten older, I have realized that mom’s kidney — not the car or the career, not even the tuxedo — was Philip’s greatest gift to not only me, but my entire family.
So with his 85th birthday coming up, I was glad to have an opportunity to say a public thank you to Philip. It’s still a small gesture compared to all he’s done for me, but maybe it’s at least worth a tuxedo.
Clay Wilson was a Staff Writer at the White County News from 1996-2002 and Publisher of the Smoky Mountain Times from 2006-2011. Phil Hudgins was Publisher/Editor of The Clayton Tribune from 1990-1995 and Senior Editor of Community Newspapers, Inc. from 2006-2015. He will celebrate his 85th birthday on July 23.