Thursday, July 6, 2006, Obituaries
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 3, 2006
John Tryon Hubbard Sr.
Services for John Tryon Hubbard Sr., 92, of Newton, who died Monday, July 3, 2006, at his home, will be at 1 p.m. Friday, July 7, at Ward Wilson Funeral Home in Dothan with the Rev. Dr. Lawson Bryan officiating.
Burial will follow in the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.
Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.
Mr. Hubbard was born Oct. 21, 1913, to Graph John and Sullie Williams Hubbard of Troy at their home on College Street. He entered the University of Alabama in 1931 and was a member of the Million Dollar Band. He pledged Sigma Nu before graduating with a degree in electrical engineering in 1935. He had always been interested in radio and in 1928, before entering college, he received his amateur radio license, which led him in 1931 to obtain a license from the Federal Radio Commission (late the FCC) to begin station WHET in Troy during the Depression. He moved the station to Dothan in 1933 and renamed it WAGF while he was still in college. Television newsman Douglas Edwards began his career working for Hubbard at WAGF. Mr. Hubbard retained ownership of the station until the early 1950s, when he entered the mobile radio communications business. He was also a part owner of his wife's family business, Strickland Music Company of Dothan.
Mr. Hubbard's mobile radio business served the Dothan and area police departments, area cab companies and local gas, electric and other businesses with a need for two-way radio installation, service and repair. Mr. Hubbard was an avid ham radio operator and became an authority on installation of public address systems and remote communication lines.
Mr. Hubbard joined the Dothan Kiwanis Club in 1936 and had been a member since then. The Kiwanis Club awarded him the Legion of Honor for 65 years of services and designated him a Hixson Fellow. Mr. Hubbard played the clarinet in various civic music groups until recently, including the Troy State at Dothan band, playing alto clarinet at the age of 90. He was a lifelong member of Dothan First United Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Maryanne Strickland Hubbard.
Survivors include a son, John T. Hubbard Jr. and his wife, Elaine, of Huntsville; a daughter, Rosa Kulik and her husband, Timothy, of Newton; grandchildren John Perry Hubbard and wife Sarah of Huntsville, Robert Tyron Hubbard of Ellington, Conn., Christopher Charles Joyner and wife Krista of Flowery Branch, Ga., Bryan Baker Joyner and wife Lisa of Cumming, Gal., Laura Lee Rotchford and husband Josh of Jacksonville, N.C., Amy Allison Joyner of Jacksonville, Michael Thomas Joyner and wife Seneca of Boston; step-granddaughter Bernice Brumari and her husband Marius of Suwanee, Ga.; and seven great-grandchildren.
Active pallbearers will be Perry Hubbard, Rob Hubbard, Chris Joyner, Bryan Joyner, Josh Rotchford, Athony Barahas and Marius Brumari. Honorary pallbearers will be Jay Kochis, Michael Joyner, Sid Katz and Larry Ballantiine.
The family requests memorials be made to a charity of the donor's choice.
Debbie Ridgwell Psarudakis
Services for Debbie Ridgwell Psarudakis, 56, of Troy, who died Monday, July 3, 2006, at Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery, will be at 10 a.m. Friday, July 7, at Skeen Funeral Home Chapel in Troy with the Rev. Timothy McMahon officiating.
She will lie in state from 9:30 to 10 a.m. the day of the service.
Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Mrs. Psarudakis was born Oct. 10, 1949, in New York, the daughter of Lionell Ridgwell and Josephine Arellano Ridgwell, both now deceased. He was a high school graduate and a homemaker.
She was preceded in death by a sister, Diane Lufker of New York.
Survivors include her husband, Gary Psarudakis of Troy; a son and his wife, Andrew and Traci Psarudakis; four brothers and their wives, Lionel (Terry) Ridgwell, Robert (Terry) Ridgwell, Mark (Nancy) Ridgwell, and Arthur Ridgwell, all of New York; four sisters and their husbands, Josephine (Dick) Turk of Florida, Anita Wallace of Nevada, Linda (Al) Privitera of New York and Lois (Richard) DiMisa of North Carolina.