Clyde A. Rudd, 88, a longtime Forest Parker, died peacefully on Sept. 24, 2016. Born in Maywood on April 22, 1928, he was the seventh of nine children of Chester and Julia Rudd. The family moved to Forest Park in 1935, and he graduated from Proviso Township High School in 1947. He met Janet Barnes, also of Forest Park, on a blind date to a Valentine’s Day party in 1946, and they married on June 3, 1949.
They chose to remain in Forest Park and both were proud that three of their great-grandchildren are now fifth generation Forest Parkers. Clyde’s first full-time job was with Park Electric in Forest Park, and in 1951 he became a journeyman when he joined Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. In his long career, he worked on many Chicago projects, including the State of Illinois building, Water Tower Place, the AT&T building, the 1st National Bank, the Four Seasons Hotel, the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the Morton Hotel, the Water Purification Plant, 900 N. Michigan (Bloomingdale’s), and the Water Reclamation District Deep Tunnel project in Schaumburg where he was lowered in a special bucket to make control and sensor connections up and down the very deep tunnel.
Toward the end of his career, he became known as an expert in wiring fire alarm systems and installed many such systems in area hospitals and office buildings. Mr. Rudd was first appointed as the Forest Park part-time electrical inspector by Mayor Fred Marunde and served from 1976 to 1979. In 1991, Mayor Lorraine Popelka reappointed him to serve as the electrical inspector and in 1995 asked him to update the village’s electrical codes which had not been revised since 1957. These were adopted in 1997, and he continued to serve in this capacity under Mayor Tony Calderone until his retirement in 2004.
Clyde Rudd is survived by Janet, his wife of 67 years; his children, Karen (Rozmus), Nancy, and Michael; his grandchildren, Michael, Ted, Alyssa, Ariel, Jon, Logan, and Christian; his great-grandchildren, Steven, Lexie, James, Hanah, Gabe, Michelle, Dillon, Elias, and Bennett; and his many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Chester and Julia; and his siblings, Alice Mae, Virjean, Robert, Lloyd, Darwin, William, James, and Kent.
A memorial service will be held at Woodlawn Funeral Home, 7750 W. Cermak Road at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 7.
In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates donations to the Forest Park Food Pantry c/o the Howard Mohr Community Center, 7640 Jackson Blvd. in Forest Park.
