The Odessa Record - Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!

Thomas Rudgers, 77, passed away at his home in Davenport, Wash. on Dec. 4, 2021, after battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Tom was born in Sioux Falls, S. D. to Robert Rudgers and Shirley DeLap, the eldest of 3 boys. He graduated from La Mirada High School in 1962. He met his future wife, Gail Kennan in high school. They were married in East Los Angeles in 1964.

He attended Cal Poly Pomona for animal husbandry. In 1963 he started work at Southern California Edison as a meter reader. After an apprenticeship at So Cal Edison, and givi...