Dr. William Dudley passed away on Sunday, July 6, 2025.

William, the second child of Clara Yeates Dudley and Gilmer Leroy Dudley, was born May 6,1931, in Aurora, NC. He was very active, adventurous, and curious about his surroundings, even as a small child. It was hard for his mother to keep him still and in one place for more than a few minutes at a time. At the age of six, he began the first grade and was in the same class as his older brother, Leroy. He recalled that on the first day of school, his mother gave Leroy and him a note informing the teacher to send books home with her boys. She would make sure that they did their homework. His mother drilled into them the three "R"s (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic) as she had once been a teacher herself. William's favorite subjects in high school were Math and Science. While most of his teachers in elementary school were female, he had several male teachers in high school that had a positive influence on him. The only college he had heard about was A&T College in Greensboro, NC, that he might be interested in attending. One month before graduating from high school, one of his teachers, Mr. Case, read a letter to the class about pursuing a career in Veterinary Science at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He wanted to see if anyone was interested. William knew right away that he had found his career. He immediately applied to Tuskegee Institute (Tuskegee University) in Alabama. After graduating from Tuskegee with a Veterinary Degree in Medicine, he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to work for the Federal Government as a Meat Inspector. He had given himself two years to save enough money to start his own animal hospital. After 18 months, he had saved enough money to buy a hospital. The reason he chose Minnesota was that many Blacks had a difficult time establishing a business in the South. He did not want to work in large cities like

New York or Philadelphia. After six years, he was able to design and build his second animal clinic, where he employed more than eleven employees. William was preceded in death by his brothers Leroy, Clifton, Alfred, Joe, and one sister, Martha Rogers, and infant daughter, Cheryl. Dr. William N. Dudley leaves to cherish his memories: his son Ballam H. Dudley, former wife Terri Dudley, his brothers Cornelius (CC) Dudley (Emma), Dr. MacArthur Dudley and George Dudley; his two sisters Mardecia Dudley (Pete) and Elsie Little (Juarez), and a host of nieces, nephews, friends in the Brooklyn Center Community in Minneapolis where he practiced for more than 50 years, and his church members of the Valley Community Presbyterian Church where he was a long-time member in Golden Valley, Minnesota

The Service will be on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 12 p.m. in the Cassie Coote-Brown Memorial Chapel at Perry J. Brown Funeral Home Chapel, 909 East Market Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27401. Visitation will be at 11:30am.

Burial will follow at Guilford Memorial Park, 6000 W Gate City Blvd, Greensboro, North Carolina 27407.

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