He is survived by his beloved wife of 73 years, Margery Bailey, originally from Amesbury, Massachusetts. Together they raised four children Laurie (Mrs. Richard Mobilio), Sallie (Mrs. Russell Dunning), Helen (Mrs. William Nicita) and Todd Jackson Follansbee, now deceased.
He was devoted to his wife and family. At 96, he was the patriarch of a family that included 12 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren plus multiple nieces, nephews, cousins and inlaws from New England to California.
Dudley graduated in 1936 from Governor Dummer Academy in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and from MIT in 1940. Following graduation, he worked for the Kroger Grocery and Baking in Ohio. In 1942, he worked for the War Production Board in Detroit and then joined the Navy as a Supply Corps Ensign assigned to the 39th Construction Battalion, later to the 48th and finally as Aide to the Admiral for Provisions supplying the Atlantic Fleet. As the war activity shifted to the Far East, he supplied that area with 10 million pounds of fresh frozen foods and 30 million pounds of dry provisions per month. As he often remarked, it was a gigantic grocery store.
He left the Navy in 1946 as a Lieutenant Commander and established the McCordi Corporation manufacturing plastics materials with factories in New York and Indiana. They worked with NASA on projects including metallized film for the first LEM module which landed on the Moon.
With the permission of the State Department, McCordi built a turnkey factory for the Russian automotive industry. Dudley led the training program in England of 15 Russian engineers. The engineers were transported daily from the Russian Embassy in London about 40 miles to the work site and were followed all the way by London policemen.
He retired and moved to Brunswick in 1980 where, in addition to his involvement with many other local activities, he was a longtime communicant and on the Vestry at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, as well as past board member of the Bowdoin International Summer Music Festival.
An ardent sportsman, he played on the MIT golf team, was champion of both the Old Newbury Golf Club in Massachusetts and the Richmond County Country Club in Staten Island, New York, was an active tennis player (earning the title of Maine State Champion) and downhill skier until just a few years ago. He and his wife and family spent many happy hours cruising the coast of Maine in their yawl Sea Folly.
A service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 27 Pleasant St., Brunswick, at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 12, 2015. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to CHANS, 60 Baribeau Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011, United Way of Mid-Coast ME, 34 Wing Farm Parkway, Bath, ME 04539 or the Episcopal Relief Fund. Arrangements are in the care of Brackett Funeral Home in Brunswick.
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