She was ready to ease into retirement when her husband, Lester – founder of Hudgins Contracting Corporation – was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Lester pleaded with Marsha from his hospital bed, “Please don’t shut the business down.”
He had started Hudgins Contracting Corporation in his late 20s, seeing it through the ups and downs of building booms and recessions. And after nearly 40 years of successful operation – and for the sake of his loyal employees, he couldn’t bear to see it end with his life.
Marsha agreed to carry the business forward. And sadly, within a year of his diagnosis, Lester lost his battle with cancer.
“We had his service on Friday, and she walked through the door on Monday, and she’s never left,” recalls Hudgins’ President Pam Kelly.
But despite knowing many of the employees for decades, Marsha wasn’t met with the support she was expecting as the wife of the founder and the incoming CEO. “They did the man thing and tried to see if they could chase me off,” she says. “I wasn’t trying to take over for them because this is not something I had planned.”
