William Wallace ‘Bill’ Tudor Jr.

William Wallace “Bill” Tudor Jr., 89, Monrovia, passed away at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at Cumberland Trace in Plainfield.

He was born on Saturday, June 25, 1932 in Morgan County to the late William Wallace Tudor, Sr. and Murl (Curtis) Tudor.

An Eminence graduate, Class of 1949, Bill was accepted into Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine. However, due to his grandfather’s poor health, Bill took over the family farm.

Bill served his country in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958. Moving from horsepower to tractor power, Bill embraced mechanization when his grandfather purchased a 1941 Farmall B tractor. There may have been another red tractor somewhere in the mix, but the man grew to bleed John Deere green.

Bill was a lifelong farmer, having retired in 1999 at age 68. Details mattered to Bill and half-done jobs weren’t acceptable. He planted the straightest rows, and his sons were in charge of hoeing the weeds, so than none were visible from the highway. In addition to agriculture, Bill raised hogs into the ’70s and Cheviot sheep from age nine.

An avid Purdue basketball fan, Indianapolis 500 buff and amateur videographer, travel may have been Bill’s favorite pastime. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of miles and countless hours were spent traversing the U.S. in their old Buicks. By the time the boys graduated high school, they had visited every state in the lower 48.

And yes, Bill did have to pull the car over once … Colorado we believe!

In addition to vacation travel, Bill and his wife of 67 years, Marie, attended nearly every youth and high school sporting event of their grandchildren. Softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, gymnastics, track and field, Grandma and Grandpa Tudor were in the stands / bleachers cheering on their favorite player.

Survivors are his wife, Mary “Marie” (Ritchie) Tudor, whom he married on Sept. 19, 1954; sons Greg Tudor and wife Donna of West Lafayette and Brad Tudor and wife Christie of Little Point; brother Thomas Tudor and wife Francine of Pennsylvania; grandchildren Betsy Tudor of Indianapolis, Zach Tudor of Phoenix, Ariz., Whitney Tudor Lynde and husband Tanner of Knoxville, Tenn., and Braden Tudor of Little Point; great-granddaughter, Leah Neil Lynde of Knoxville, Tenn.

In an ode to “Grandpa”, one of the grandkids stated …

“I don’t think the world makes many men like you anymore.”

Funeral services will be 1p.m. on Saturday, April 16 at Costin Funeral Chapel, Martinsville, with John Shoffner officiating. Visitation will be at the chapel on Friday from 4-7 p.m. and on Saturday one hour prior to the funeral service.

Burial with military honors will be at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Hall, Ind.

Online condolences may be made at www.costinfuneralchapel.com.