Carole K. Hudson

Carole Kay Hudson (May 1, 1941 - April 22, 2021)

Carole Kay Hudson was a fierce, independent woman who lived life on her own terms. After graduating from Wingate High School in Brooklyn, New York in 1959, she traveled to London, England by sea to attend nursing school at Whittington Hospital. It was there that she discovered a love for travel and spent the next several years traversing European cities—from hitch-hiking in Ireland to skiing in the Swiss Alps and sunbathing in Sicily.

Carole was a go-getter, an adventurer, a feminist, and a woman of distinction. She turned tragedy and trauma into triumph, and gave of herself to others—she showed compassion to strangers and loved without conditions. In 1968, Carole returned to New York City, where she worked as a Registered Nurse and nurse administrator at Harlem Hospital. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Marymount Manhattan College and Master’s Degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. She retired from Harlem Hospital after thirty years, and then spent the next ten years as a visiting nurse in Brooklyn. Her only child, Crystal Raphaella Hudson, was in high school by then, and she wanted to keep a close eye on her.

Born in Tela, Honduras on May 1, 1941 to Ruth Whilemina Green and Raphael Constantine Hudson, Carole spent her first years in Honduras before moving to Jamaica where she lived with her cousin Jean, her Aunt Nell (Beryl Hudson James), and grandparents Jane Ann and Edward Hudson. She then came to New York City in the late 1940s to be with her father and step-mother, Gladys Hudson. 

Carole was a dear friend, a compassionate nurse, a doting mother, and a beloved neighbor of her Prospect Heights community in Brooklyn. She battled Alzheimer’s disease for over eight years, but she never stopped dancing! Carole was moving and grooving until the very end, bringing joy to all those who dared to meet her on the dance floor. She is survived by her daughter, Crystal Hudson, and Crystal’s fiance Sasha Ahuja, her sisters Beverly Hudson, Sandra Sainsbury, and Kimberly Scott, her cousin who was like a sister to her, Jean Onwualu, and countless nieces, nephews and cousins.

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