Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND001 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 272193
Title: Charles K. Hudson Sr.
Date: 5/6/1936-3/1/2026
Inscription/Marks: 5/6/1936
Summary: Charles Kent Hudson Sr., 89, of Bismarck and formerly of Parshall, ND, passed away on March 1, 2026, in Bismarck, at a senior living center. A memorial service was held May 22, 2026, at United Church of Christ in Parshall. Charles, known primarily by his middle name Kent, and nickname "Charlie," was born on May 6, 1936, in Makoti, ND, to Ross and Leita (Grow) Hudson. At the age of five, his family moved to Parshall, where he grew up living a classic small-town life filled with hard work and harmless shenanigans. At 16, Kent left school to do work in preparation for the construction of the Garrison Dam, where he helped log timber in the Missouri bottomlands and relocate cemeteries to higher ground. He later served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957, spending the majority of his service in Korea. After returning to Parshall, Kent met the love of his life, Marilyn Cross, while working odd jobs and riding in local rodeos. The two married in 1959 and moved to the San Francisco Bay area to raise their children, Chuck and Sonya. In California, Kent worked as a roads crew supervisor for the city of Mountain View. In 1972, the family returned to Parshall to pursue a small-town life. Kent fulfilled a lifelong dream of raising beef cattle and started a small excavation company. Kent later worked as a farm/ranch equipment assessor for Cornerstone Bank. Kent was a true horseman. He loved rodeo, was an avid team roper, hunted elk on horseback in Montana, and rode the Maah Daah Hey Trail. Later in life, he became a skilled poker player, winning major tournaments across the Midwest and Canada. Kent was known for his calm, kind nature and keen sense of observation of the world around him. He had a big sense of humor, which made him a favorite among his many nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. He also possessed a welcoming spirit; during the Bakken oil boom, he enjoyed meeting newcomers to the Parshall area and gave robust support to several immigrants pursuing citizenship. Kent was a proud member of the Arthur Solie American Legion Post 121 located in Parshall. He is survived by his children, Charles "Chuck" (Sarah) Hudson (Tucson, AZ) and Sonya Joy Rensch (Wickenburg, AZ); his grandchildren, Kent III, Lee, Cray, Noel, Stone, Sierra; several great-grandchildren; brother, Rodney Hudson (Eau Claire, WI); and sister, Sally Folmar (Pahrump, NV). Kent was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Marilyn, in 2020; his parents, Ross and Leita; his brothers, Lowell and Larry; and his granddaughter, Cassie.
Red ID: FND_I_79685 Image ID: 577042 Image Notes: FND001 272193

Collection: FND001 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program
Date: -

Summary: The North Dakota Heritage Family Memorial Program is sponsored by the North Dakota Funeral Directors Association. The life stories of deceased North Dakotans are featured in an archvied collection. Current partners in the project are Eastgate Funeral & Cremation Services, Bismarck Evans Funeral Homes, Carrington and New Rockford Everson-Coughlin Funeral Home, Williston Fulkerson Funeral Home, Tioga Fulkerson Funeral Home, Watford City Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home, Williston Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau Parkway Funeral Service, Bismarck Springan Stevenson Funeral Home, Stanley Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson These funeral homes provide recent obituaries to the Foundation, where staff and volunteers format, edit and archive each memorial. The memorials are posted, and copies are sent to the family for their input and approval. The listing currently features more than 13,000 memorials, and is constantly updated as new memorials and histories are received.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.