A private memorial service will be held for Mimi Correll Cerniglia, mother of C. Fred Hudson III will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to: Center for Inquiry, P.O. Box 741, Amherst, NY 14226
Mimi and her sisters, Betty Correll Greer and Gwendolyn Correll Curtis grew up in Hickory, NC where their father was a furniture manufacturer and their mother, Lena Grubb Correll was a dietician.
During WW II Mimi joined other young people collecting cans, paper, and grease while sewing petticoats for the Red Cross. High school was followed by earning her BA degree from Lenoir Rhyne College.
Teaching in Morganton was followed by Rutherford College which is where her husband, C. Fred Hudson, Jr., a biology teacher lived and where C. Fred Hudson III was born.
In 1958 Mimi and Fred Jr., moved to Ft. Myers, Florida to teach. Fred III attended Nuna's School during his preschool years after which he attended Edison Park which was near the Thomas Edison home and workshop.
Being educators made it possible for she and her family to travel along the East coast and Canada during the summer. Boating and tennis were enjoyed during the school year. In 1967 Mimi and Fred III relocated to N. Carolina where she earned her MA degree from Appalachian State University and Fred attended Boon, NC school.
After she earned her MA degree they moved to Maiden, NC so Mimi would be near the Newton-Conover Schools where she was the Reading Consultant.
During the summer of 1969 Mimi went abroad with the University of Connecticut Reading Consultant to study reading problems in Italy, Spain, France, and attended the United Kingdom's Reading Conference at Nottingham University in Nottingham, England.
In 1970 she and Fred III moved back to Ft. Myers, Florida where she was a Reading Consultant before writing Federal programs, publishing a Reading Test for secondary students and "The Reading Tree", an instruction book for secondary teachers.
After Fred III graduated from high school and entered college, Mimi married Sam Cerniglia, a retired restaurateur. For a year Mimi and Sam traveled in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
They chose the Pinehurst area of N. Carolina to build a retirement home which is where the news media became aware that Mimi was a Correll. After she was interviewed for newspaper articles and radio programs, she became president of the Sandhills-Southern Pines American Association of University Women which led to being on the Board of Ruth Pawley Lecture Series at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst.
With Mimi playing golf with Sam and a women's golf group at Southern Pine Country Club, this left time for them to learn to square and round dance. Mimi started Women's Network of Moore County after Gov. Jim Hunt chose her to represent Moore County in women's leadership.
After Sam's lengthy illness and death, Mimi added League of Women's Voters to her activities until she decided to move to Ormond Beach which is where Fred III moved after graduation from Stetson University and marrying Cathy Jackson. Their twin sons Adam and Josh were very young when Fred and Cathy opened their first Hudson Furniture store.
In Ormond Beach, Mimi played golf, became a docent at the Art and Science Museum and was an Adjunct Professor in the Communicating Arts Department at Daytona Community College.
After exploring the history of free-thinking, Mimi started free-thinking groups that met at Daytona Beach Library, Palm Coast Library and Deland Library. She printed a monthly newsletter titled "Libre" which can be researched at the library at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York. In 2000 she went to Los Angles for a conference celebrating "Fee Inquiry" twentieth year of publication. She was given an award for being the person who did the most in 1999 to promote secular humanism.
When Mimi developed rheumatoid arthritis, she curtailed her activities, but continued to read. She had been keeping a journal for years so she was able to write an outline. After contacting Author House about publishing her autobiography, she used her outline to write her autobiography and Author House published, Mimi and her World".
Mimi is survived by her son, C. Fred Hudson III, Grandsons, Josh and Adam Hudson, granddaughter-in-law, Marie Manley Hudson, granddaughter-in-law, Aimee Hudson, great grandchildren, Maya, Faith, True, Cole, Leila, and Reese Hudson, step-granddaughter, Sarah Ploutz, niece, Ann Curtis Sharp and nephews, Rick Greer, Charles Curtis and Paul Curtis.