Bertrand Ryland Hudnall II

Bertrand Ryland Hudnall II was the eldest of three sons born to Dr. Harry Gilman (Jack) Hudnall and Elizabeth Revercomb Hudnall in Covington, Virginia. Bert was a proud “mountain boy” who found great joy, too, in living his final 31 years in Charleston. He often said, “How lucky can a man be to have called those mountains and this low country his homes”?

Bert was educated in the Covington public schools before receiving a B.A. degree in English from Washington and Lee University and a Masters in Education with a focus on secondary school administration from the University of Virginia. At W&L, he was president of several clubs and inducted in Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership fraternity. At W&L, he made many lifetime friends from all over the country and thrived on maintaining those friendships through letters and phone conversations. He recently said that outliving many of those men was one of old age’s cruelest consequences.

A lifetime educator, Bert first taught English at Darlington School in Rome, GA where he was immediately beloved by both students and townspeople. He credited both the school and city as being instrumental in launching him into the grown-up world, and he maintained regular contact with former colleagues and students, some of whom were only two or three years his junior. One former student says he has kept a “Bert Hudnall file” for years.

Bert next taught at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, VA, his father’s high school alma mater. There, too, he established a reputation for being a respected teacher and a friend to all, and there, too, the groundwork was further laid for a lifetime of valued relationships, many with students and their future spouses.

While at VES, he was visiting with an elderly family friend who was also entertaining another guest, a young woman working in the admissions office at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. His primary intention that evening was to pay long-overdue respects to the family friend, but he admitted to being easily distracted by the other guest, Martha Jane Daniel of Richmond who, three years later, became his beloved wife. That evening, she mentioned that Randolph-Macon was seeking a director of admissions and urged Bert to apply. He did, and he served in that role for four years before being offered the position of principal at Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, NC. He served in that position for four years, during which both of his children were born. Salem and its Moravian traditions were enormously satisfying to the whole family, but the opportunity to return to the Virginia mountains arose when he was offered the headmastership of North Cross School, a K-12 independent school in Roanoke. The ten years spent in Roanoke were professionally and personally fulfilling, but Randolph-Macon lured Bert back for another five years before Martha Jane was offered a retirement marketing position at Bishop Gadsden in Charleston, where they moved in 1995 and have lived ever since.

In Charleston, he worked part time as college counselor at Ashley Hall, which he credits with introducing him to many Charlestonians who have become valued friends. In recent years, he has been College Advisor at the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science. In addition to his years at various schools, he also served as an independent college advisor under the name The Next Step, a college counseling service he founded in 1995, a tenure that included working with hundreds of students and their families who were seeking advice on maneuvering the college search.

Bert remained active in professional organizations throughout his career, elected as Virginia’s representative to the College Board and serving as president of the Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling (PCACAC) which awarded him its prestigious Apperson Award for distinguished service to the field of college admissions. In 1999, he gave the keynote address to a 900-member audience of college counselors, both college and secondary. After being introduced, he strode to the podium and broke into a verse of “My Way’ adapted for an audience of educators. He would later laugh that the standing ovation at the beginning of his speech was more enthusiastic than the one at the end.

Bert authored four books, including a “skinny little cookbook” called Corny-Copia, a college guide titled Cutting Through the Chaos of College Admissions, a collection of essays called Musings From God’s Lieutenant, and a collection of stories from all the schools where he worked titled Tales Out of School.

The three F’s....faith, friends, and family....were the bedrocks of Bert’s life. He loved First (Scots) Presbyterian Church where he was an elder and Clerk of Session twice, chair of several committees, colorful auctioneer for the annual youth missions fundraiser, and convener of a monthly fun-filled Koinonia fellowship luncheon. His faith was not limited to church-related activities. He spoke it and lived it in his daily life.

Bert’s legion of friends was broad and deep. Keeping in touch with them was his pastime. It was not unusual for there to be two or three outgoing letters on the hall table every single day, all written in longhand on personalized stationery. During the COVID pandemic, he wrote letters every day to church members kept in quarantine in retirement communities and to collegebound students to allay their concerns about college planning during that difficult time.

Bert would say that if nothing else went right in his life, he was still the most blessed person anywhere to have Martha Jane as his life mate. Her smile every morning, her kindness and patience every day, and the unconditional love she gave at every turn made his life full and happy. His two children, Elizabeth Bogan and Ry Hudnall, made him proud because of their innate goodness and significant personal and professional accomplishments. To his grandchildren, Rawley and Decker Hudnall, Bert was “Big B” and their unabashed champion.

In addition to his wife of 53 years, Martha Jane, he is survived by his children Elizabeth Hudnall Bogan and Bertrand Ryland Hudnall III (Ry); his beloved grandchildren Rawley Gaines Hudnall and Decker Ryland Hudnall; His brother Gil Hudnall (Mary Anne) of Atlanta; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and devoted friends.

A Virginia gentleman to the core, Bert will be long remembered for his kindness, good humor, respect for all people, and integrity.

Visitation will be at J. Henry Stuhr Funeral Chapel, 232 Calhoun Street, Charleston on Thursday, March 26, 5-7 p.m. A memorial service will be held on Friday, March 27 at 11:00 a.m. at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, 53 Meeting Street, Charleston.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA; Darlington School,1014 Cave Spring Road, Rome, GA 30161; or The Boys Home, 414 Boys Home Road, Covington, VA 24426.