A Tribute to Grady Nutt by Judy Nation!

How great it is, after 25 years, that you have thought to remember this fantastic man. I had the pleasure to meet Grady, for the first time, in 1971. I was a private duty nurse for a burn patient. Grady came to visit for "a few minutes." 90 minutes later, my patient {and me,too} had laughed so much, so often and so hard that my patient told Grady that he hurt so much that I was going to have to give him pain medication! That started an 11 year friendship between Grady, myself, and my children. When my son realized that his sister and I were periodically receiving mail from Grady, he innocently asked, "When is Grady going to get to meet me?" This was about the time that the pilot TV show was released. Of course, we were glued to the set every time Hee-Haw came on. At the time of his death, Grady had just finished taping the next 6 months of his spots on the show.

Not long after I met him the first time, I had the opportunity to accompany Grady and others from Blackshear,GA, to Douglas for a performance at the local college. On the way home, Grady told me that if I ever heard that he died too young it would be in a plane crash because he made a point of always being in his home church every Sunday morning as he and his wife taught Sunday School. At his memorial service, it was mentioned that a 4 year old wanted to know who was going to hug her every time she went to church. I did not get to go to the service but I have the tapes.

Grady did get to meet my son (picture above)! We have the picture to prove it. The next week, he sent an autographed picture just to him. About a month after his death my son was watching Grady on Hee-Haw, with tears rolling down. When I asked my 7 year old what was wrong, his answer blew me away. "When are we supposed to cry?" Such was and is the power of that long, tall Texan, of whom I am proud to say, was a friend. We need more Grady Nutts in this world today. What a blessing it was to have known him and his wife.

Sincerely,
Judy Nation

jrwnation@accessatc.net