Laura Judith Hunnicutt Welch

Published 2:20 pm Tuesday, January 21, 2025

On Monday morning, January 20, 2025, God took His child Judy Welch home to be with Him. Judy was born October 23, 1939 to Jim and Mabel Hunnicutt. She was the second of five girls in the Hunnicutt household on G Street in Elizabethton. She was preceded in death by her parents and two sisters, Jane Raulston and Margaret Ann Hunnicutt, both of Elizabethton.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Robert Welch, and two sisters, Jimmie Lou Wilcox of Kingsport and Susan Heaton of Elizabethton.

Judy attended public school in Elizabethton: Harold McCormick, Lynn Avenue, and she graduated from Elizabethton High School in 1957. She attended East Tennessee State University and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a Teaching certification.

While at Elizabethton High, Judy met her life-mate Bob who asked to carry her horn home for her from band practice one summer afternoon. These high school sweethearts continued that love relationship for the next 70 years. After finishing college, Bob joined the Navy and they were married in April the year that Judy graduated from the newly designated ETSU, 1961. For the next 22 years, the Navy moved Bob and Judy from coast to coast in the United States, finally settling in the center part of the country in Oklahoma. Along the way they became the parents of three children, James Robert, Douglas Grant, and Laura Margaret. Jim served as a law enforcement officer in Oklahoma until retirement; Doug is a private contract computer systems specialist. Their daughter, Laura, passed away in 2003 after having finished her degree at ETSU and moving to Texas to live with her parents.

Throughout her life, Judy has been active in her church, has been a leader in Scouting, and has worked in an academic setting. She was a placement officer at the University of Oklahoma, an administrative assistant to the dean at Liberty University, and functioned as the administrative associate to the dean of Southwestern Baptist Seminary and later to the Vice President for Advancement at that Seminary. While her husband was earning his doctorate at Southwestern, she became his typist, proof reader and manuscript critic – basically earning her doctorate too.

Left behind to cherish her memory is her husband of 63 years, Robert Horton “Bob” Welch; son, Jim and wife Lydia of Norman, Okla.; son, Doug and his wife Debbie of Mountain City, Tenn.; sisters, Jimmie Lou Wilcox of Kingsport, Susan Heaton and her husband Bill of Elizabethton; and brother-in-law, Ed Welch of Cary, N.C. Their sons produced five grandchildren, Josh (Jacqulyn), Nicholas (Emma), Megan (Michael), Tyler, and Laura (John) and six great-grandchildren, Jordan, Beckett, Ryker, Mavrick, Millie, and Mikee. Additionally, she leaves a host of nephews and nieces.

Judy and husband Bob moved back home to Elizabethton after 50 years of travel that included 20 moves. She became active at First Baptist Church in programs and ministries. While she enjoyed traveling, it was her home that looked out over the mountains that she loved. A reflection of her life would picture a caring, dynamic woman who loved people. For example, during the time in Fort Worth while Bob would be teaching a Thursday night class, Judy would have dozens of young women in for a meal, to use the laundry, gather and talk, and be mentored by Judy – these Thursday-night girls she considered to be her adopted daughters. The influence on their lives by Judy is now felt across the world in the ministries they conduct to this day. She was loved and cherished by many and her absence will leave a tremendous void in the lives of all those whose path has crossed hers in her life journey.

A service to celebrate Judy’s life will be conducted at 1 p.m. Saturday, January 25, in the Chapel of Peace at Tetrick Funeral Home of Elizabethton with Rev. Todd Hallman officiating. Music will be under the direction of Susan Heaton and John Bunn. The family will receive friends in the funeral home chapel between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, prior to the service. The funeral service will be livestreamed from the chapel. To view the livestream log onto our website at www.tetrickfuneralhome.com and select Judy’s obituary. The link will appear at the top of the body of the obituary and the livestream will start promptly at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The graveside service will follow at Happy Valley Memorial Park. Active pallbearers will be Judy’s grandsons and nephews, Nicholas Welch, Tyler Welch, Keith Raulston, Jonathan Raulston, John Parsons, Michael Heaton and Joseph Heaton. Words of sympathy may be shared with Judy’s family by visiting our website at www.tetrickfuneralhome.com. 

Tetrick Funeral Home of Elizabethton is honored to serve the Welch family. Office Phone: (423) 542-2232.