Obituary of John Hudson

John Hudson, 75, of Millville, NJ, died peacefully after a lengthy illness on November 15, 2024 at Artis Senior Living of Evesham in NJ. He will be deeply missed by all who had the blessing of knowing him. He is survived by his siblings Kathleen DeMarco (Joe) of Millville, Herb Hudson (Caryl) of Southport, NC, and Rosemarie Newman (Ron) of Millville; nephew Kenneth Lore of Newport, niece Susan Lore of Sewell, nephews Jeff Hudson (Lexi) of Cape May, and Mike Hudson of Cape May; and several great and great-great nephews and nieces. John was predeceased by his parents, Augustus Hudson and Margaret Hudson of Newport, NJ and by his sister, Mary Lore and her husband, Charles Lore of Newport. Born in Bridgeton, John suffered a severe injury when he was 16 years old, which nearly killed him and left him physically disabled, but God spared his life. He went on to enjoy an incredible and full life. He attended Villanova University where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Counseling and Human Relations. While at VU, he was manager of food services. During those years, many close, wonderful friendships were formed that have remained strong through the decades. After he started working in South Jersey, he shared a residence with his sister Rosemarie and her husband Ron for many years. John was a Licensed Professional Counselor and worked over 24 years as a therapist at Ranch Hope, a residential facility for troubled youth. John loved helping teenagers learn to accept responsibility and overcome the challenges they had previously experienced in life. His passion and skill at his work led to his receiving the Wrangler's Meritorious Service Award at Ranch Hope, as well as the Clinician of the Year Award from the New Jersey Association of Children's Residential Facilities in 2006. He was very adventurous and traveled extensively on his own to fifty different countries around the world on six of the seven continents. His travels included summer graduate courses at Oxford University in England, Heidelberg University in Germany, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Istanbul University in Turkey. He enjoyed visiting many amazing places and wonders of the world, including the Great Wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Easter Island, and the Taj Mahal in India. He went to so many other ancient and modern sites that they cannot all be named here. During his travels his friendly nature and upbeat personality attracted new friends everywhere he went. John was also a master scuba diver. He loved the beauty of the coral reefs and dove with dolphins, sharks, manta rays, moray eels, and countless species of exotic fish. He traveled to many world-class scuba locations around the world including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the waters off the shores of Phuket, Thailand. On one of his trips to Thailand, he was in Bangkok when the devastating tsunami of 2004 killed over 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean and struck Phuket. If it had hit twelve hours later, he would have been there. The Lord graciously delayed his arrival in Phuket and spared his life again. Friends will be received at the DeMarco-Luisi Funeral Home, 2755 S Lincoln Ave, Vineland, NJ on Sunday, December 15, 2024 at 11am. A celebration of life by his friends and family sharing brief stories and thoughts of John and a service will be held from 11:45 to 1pm. All can be comforted by the fact that John had received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and is now in heaven able to run, jump, and dance for joy for the first time since he was 16 - and without pain! The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions in John's memory be made to Ranch Hope, Inc, PO Box 325, Alloway, NJ 08001 (ranchhope.org). Memories, thoughts and prayers may be extended to his family by visiting dlfuneral.com.