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JOHN MCINTOSH SCHUDY

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John McIntosh Schudy was born May 5, 1936 in Douglas County, and departed this life on May 5, 2023 at Kabul Nursing Home on his 87th birthday. John McIntosh Schudy was born May 5, 1936 to Elmer and Edna (McIntosh) Schudy, in Douglas County on a farm south of Norwood. He went to elementary school at Cold Springs, taking third and fourth grades the same year. John made a profession of faith in his youth and was baptized in Bryant Creek. He graduated from Norwood High School in 1953, and attended Southwest Missouri State Teachers College (now Missouri State University). John decided after one year that the family farm and college were not for him and struck out on his own. He moved to Wichita, Kan. and worked the wheat harvest, taking jobs welding and driving a grader. In September 1957, John bought OK Tire Shop in Branson, where he met Roberta Mellene Norton on Feb. 15, 1958. They married on Friday, June 13, 1958, and to their union were born two children, a boy and a girl. After the birth of his healthy children, John was rebaptized on Oct. 2, 1960 at First Baptist Church of Branson, although he would not attend church or discuss religion. When the tire shop burned, John went to work at School of the Ozarks as an electrician, wiring a dormitory and a dairy barn. In 1964, he moved his family to Mountain Grove and went to work for Leonard Hudson Electric. In 1966, John began independent contracting and started John Schudy Electric. Les Sutherland gave him his first contract, and John was off and running. In February 1968, John bought 14 acres on Crow Hill (Morris Road), and on Christmas Day 1969, the family moved into a new home on that property. In 1976, John approached ConTel with a generator maintenance program, and Schudy Electric branched into generator service. John became Onan and Generrac factory certified. John had finally found his niche – troubleshooting. In 1979, ConTel asked John to make a copper grounding device for them. He drew up a schematic for their approval and Schudy Electric – Fabrication Division came into being and started making ground bars, while continuing generator servicing until his retirement in 2007. During his years doing generator servicing, his service area covered as many as six states. The distance between generators led John to get his pilot’s license and buy an airplane, a Piper Cherokee Arrow. In 2004, John was proud to serve his country as the presidential elector representing the 8th District of Missouri. His vote helped re-elect George W. Bush. The last 10 years of his life were devoted to caring for his wife, Mellene, after she fell and became a quadriplegic. From 2013-2020, he provided her care in their home, and after 2020, she became a resident of Kabul Nursing Home.

John is survived by Mellene, his wife of 64 years, 11 months; his son, John Schudy Jr and wife, Janet, of Halfway; daughter Joanna Perkins and husband, John, of Linn Creek, Mo. and Fairplay, Colo.; granddaughters, Hilary Perkins Bybee (Kyle), of Kansas City; Courtney Perkins Betts (Chris), of Olathe Kan.; and Elizabeth Brady, of Jefferson City; as well as five great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Della Yeager and Mary Dake, both of Mountain Grove. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Edna Schudy, and brothers James, Alvin and Charles. Services were held at 10 a.m., Friday, May 12, 2023 at the funeral chapel with Scott Miller officiating. Pallbearers were Rocky Coonts, Merlin Byler, Doug Jones, Nelson Culpepper, Tim Hancock and Dwayne Isringhausen. Honorary pallbearers were Don Lutes, Robert Jones and Richard Nelson. Interment was in the Lone Star Cemetery near Mountain Grove under the direction of Elliott-Gentry-Carder Funeral Home of Cabool. Online condolences may be made at www.egcfuneralhome.com.