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In memory of

STEVEN WILLIAM HUDAK

Chesterfield, VA, USA

March 3, 1969 - January 25, 2020

Mar 3, 1969 - Jan 25, 2020

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STEVEN WILLIAM HUDAK passed away January 25 in Midlothian VA. Beloved husband of Brooke Foster Hudak, father of Melanie Faith and Lillian Grace Hudak, son of Steve and Maryanne Hudak, brother of Laura Hudak Boehling and Melissa Ann Hudak, son-in-law of George and Carolyn Foster, brother-in-law of Keith Boehling, Diane and Jim Brewer and Deborah and Frank Ernesto, and faithful friend of countless others. Steve, often called just Hudak or Cuckoo, was 50.

He was out walking his Lucky Dog, like any other day, when he collapsed. EMTs were called and responded promptly, but were unable to revive him.

Steve was born March 3, 1969 at Camp Kue Army Hospital on Okinawa, where his father was serving in the U S Air Force. When the elder Steve shipped out to Vietnam, Maryanne took the family to Fairlawn N.J., where they lived briefly before moving upon his father’s return from Vietnam in November 1970 to Schaumberg IL, outside Chicago. There the family lived for Steve’s formative and elementary school years. In January 1981, the Hudaks moved to Dumfries VA. Steve attended Graham Park Middle School and Potomac High School, where he played football (#44) and graduated in 1987.

After high school, Steve attended Northern Virginia Junior College for a while, but restless and unfocused as a student, chose to opt-out of additional schooling to begin a career in the food service industry. He started out as a cook at Ground Round, and quickly moved into management, moving on through the years to Chilis and UNOs in Richmond VA. By the mid-2000s Steve had become disillusioned about the food service business and was looking to move in a different direction. One day, he was talking about his dilemma to a customer at UNOs who happened to own a business that was looking for a salesman and he promptly offered Steve the job. The company was Diversitec, a telecommunications supply company. By 2020, Steve had advanced to Sales and Operations Manager of Diversitec, described by a company web page announcement of his passing as “a rock in our organization for the past 10+ years.”

Steve met Brooke at Chilis. They were married at Bethia UMC in Chesterfield VA. on May 16 2009. Melanie was born on April 19 2010, Lilly on March 7 2012. He absolutely adored his wife and daughters. When Melanie was born, he was at the birth, stepped immediately into daddy mode and never looked back. He relished daddy/daughter activities. When his girls got involved with the Indian Princess movement, Steve jumped in wholeheartedly in their support.

Steve loved cooking, and he was a marvelous chef. He did most of the cooking for his family, enjoying nothing more than creating favorite Louisiana dishes: gumbo, etoufee, jambalaya, even beignets. On his patio, he set up his own outdoor kitchen featuring his favorite device, a Big Green Egg, with all the accessories, on which he grilled steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs, chicken, fish, shrimp, chops and roasts; you name it, he could cook it or fry it or smoke it. And, he cooked for everybody: family, neighbors, friends, business associates, anyone who happened to be on hand, and there always seemed to be somebody on hand, at least two or three days a week, particularly on Sundays and especially during the football season.

Steve loved the Washington Redskins. He had about a dozen Skins jerseys and jackets and caps. He adorned his daughters in Redskins regalia. He always managed at least once each year to make the run to FedEx Field to watch the Redskins play in person. The rest of the season, every Sunday, it was the Hudak garage, Steve’s own man-cave, a veritable shrine to the Redskins: banners, posters, helmets, even a pair of seats from the old RFK stadium. He had four big screen TVS, a kegerator full of lite beer, a refrigerator full of water and carbonated drinks, and a table full of food, which he had cooked, all for the delight of a dozen, sometimes a score of his fellow football fans.

When Washington was scheduled to play at the New Orleans Saints every few years Steve made sure he and Brooke (whose hometown was Slidell, LA) made trips to New Orleans to be on hand at the Superdome for the games. He loved to visit New Orleans to mingle with Brooke’s friends, many of whom had made the trip to Richmond in 2009 to see them get married. He loved New Orleans famous food and the French Quarter where, on special occasions, he was known to do cartwheels on Bourbon Street. He named his Lucky Dog after the famous New Orleans hot dog. He shared his love for New Orleans each spring by hosting a Crawfish Boil in his back yard. An all-afternoon, into-the-evening affair filled with joy and delight and hundreds of pounds of crawfish flown up from New Orleans and boiled on site, it drew upwards of 100 people every year. Even people who did not eat crawfish came for the camaraderie, and to share the love.

Because mostly, Steve will be remembered as the embodiment of the word love. He loved everybody – his family and all their relatives and friends, his own friends and all their relatives and their friends. When he met someone new who was a friend or relative of his own friend or relative, he didn’t just shake hands, he reached out and enveloped that person in a big warm bear hug (Steve was a BIG man), welcoming them into his family.

The past two years had been very difficult for Steve, though you would never have known it. He lost his beloved next door neighbor, a minister, who had performed the wedding ceremony for Steve and Brooke. Then, a year ago, he lost his best friend, the same age, with whom he shared a birthday, and who had been a Groomsman at his wedding. Steve was devastated, but he carried on. At his 2019 annual crawfish boil, Steve toasted them both.

There have been many posts on social media since January 25, warm testimonials of how much Steve meant to those he left behind. A Celebration of Life in Steve’s honor was held on February 1 in Richmond. Literally hundreds came to remember, reflect, tell stories (and probably some tall tales), laugh and cry. People came from as far away as California, Alaska, Maine, Arizona, Louisiana, and all over Virginia: teammates from his high school football team; people he had worked for and with; business associates; Redskins fans, Saints fans, Dallas fans, Pittsburgh fans, New York Giants fans, all of whom had shared Sundays at the Hudak Garage; relatives and friends and friends of relatives and friends of friends; they all came to remember and honor Steve William Hudak a genuinely good, caring, incredibly generous human being.

They all left with one indelible memory: #beahudak.

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