Bobby Durrett Hydrick
January 6, 1939 - May 28, 2022
Columbus, Georgia - Bobby Durrett Hydrick passed away peacefully at his home Saturday at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer.
He was born on January 6, 1939 in Sylacauga, Alabama to Julius and Esther Hydrick. Being the son of a railroad man, he moved around early in life with his parents living in Birmingham, Columbus and Macon before settling in Columbus permanently in the mid 1940's. He graduated from Columbus High School in 1956 and started his college career at Mercer University before transferring to Auburn University in 1958, where he graduated with a degree in Marketing in 1961.
It was at Auburn that he met the love of his life, Ruth Stephens from Thomasville, GA, at the J&M Bookstore where he worked part time. It was a love that lasted for the rest of his life as they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in February with family and friends.
After graduation, he began his career at Royal Crown Cola in the Marketing Department and began the rise to a senior leadership position working extensively on RC's branding at a local and national level. He also traveled across the country to consult with RC Cola Bottlers on all aspects of production and marketing.
While always interested in politics, his passion for community service began in 1963 when he and other young leaders stopped the vacant Springer Opera House from being demolished to build a parking garage. It was always a great point of pride of his when the Springer Opera House was added as a National Historic Landmark just fifteen years later in 1978.
One of his first ventures into politics was working with the Bo Callaway for Congress campaign, where he helped Bo become the first Republican elected to Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction. This win became the starting point for the modern day Republican Party in the State of Georgia.
It was during this time that he became good friends and a trusted confidante to J. R. Allen. Allen, Hydrick and others drafted the current city charter that voters approved in 1970 that made Columbus the first consolidated government in the State of Georgia. Allen was elected Mayor of Columbus that same year. However, when a tragic plane crash killed Mayor Allen and three others in February 1973, Bob, who was at the time chairman of the Muscogee County Republican Party, was approached to run in the Special Election to fill the remainder of Allen's term.
Despite a successful career at RC Cola and four young children, he realized to keep the progress going forward that had been started with Mayor Allen, he would need to run for Mayor. He won the Special Election and served as Mayor from 1973-1974. As Mayor, he continued the implementation of the Consolidation of Columbus and Muscogee County. He focused on lower property taxes, increasing Public Safety and bringing in Industrial Development to the city. He was instrumental in helping the previously named Medical Center, in getting major improvements as it was his goal to improve the lives of all the citizens of Columbus.
He often confided to a select few friends that he felt his greatest accomplishment was in getting Columbus connected to the Interstate Highway System. When Richard Nixon, running for re-election in 1972, asked Mr. Hydrick at a meeting with other Republican officials in Georgia what he could do for Columbus, he told the President Columbus was the largest city in the United States not on the Interstate System. President Nixon told him if he was re-elected, he would make sure it was done and Interstate 185 was completed in the fall of 1979.
After his term as Mayor ended in 1974, he opened his own Marketing and Management Company working with many local businesses such as First National Bank, Southern Foods, Hughston Sports Medicine Hospital, Kirven's Department Store and Kinnett Dairies where he secured Atlanta Braves star, Dale Murphy, as a spokesman. His commitment to improving the city continued as he served in numerous leadership positions.
He served in the Jaycees, where he was the 1970 Jaycees Man of the Year and was one of Jaycee's five Outstanding Young Men of Georgia, Rotary, President of Kiwanis, President of the PTA for both Clubview Elementary School and Hardaway High School, President of Peach Little League, President of the Iron Works Convention and Trade Center, Deacon at First Baptist Church, Boys Club of Columbus and Trees Columbus among numerous other boards and committees as well consulting with numerous political campaigns on a local, state, and federal level.
Despite being so committed to public service, family was always his number one priority. He coached his children's sports teams and never missed a game, dance recital or school event of his four children. He relished dinner time and the din of a large family around the dinner table, which he kept stoked with his great sense of humor. His other great joy was at the family's place in Destin, Florida with family and friends. He provided a role model as a father being a Sunday School teacher for over fifty years, first at First Baptist Church, then later at St. Luke Methodist Church. He took great pride in the lessons he presented and as his many class members can attest to over the years, it was an effort that was rewarded as the messages were always insightful and meaningful.
He is preceded in death by his father, Julius Hydrick, his mother Esther Hydrick and his half-brother Julius Hydrick Jr.
He is survived by his loving wife of sixty years, Ruth Stephens Hydrick, his four children, Robert (Tammy), Stephen (Brenda), John (Meredith), and Susan Rinkowski (Greg), and four grandchildren whom he loved dearly Jackson, Caroline, Katherine, and Anna Brook Hydrick. The family would also like to thank Freda Brundidge, Mittie Thornton, and Sandra Thomas for their immense love and care for these past few years.
Funeral services will be Thursday, June 2, 2022 at St. Luke Methodist Church at 11:00 am with Reverends Robert Beckum and Thad Haygood officiating. A private burial will follow the service. The family will greet visitors beginning at 10:00 am in the Fellowship Hall behind the Sanctuary at St. Luke. In lieu of flowers, the family ask that donations be made to Trees Columbus.
He lived his goal of leaving the world a better place than he found it.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.shcolumbus.com for the Hydrick family.