Chris Hudnut

Chris Hudnut, 51, of Logan, Iowa and formerly of Montezuma passed away Wednesday, October 23, 2024 due to injuries sustained in a vehicular accident. Funeral services will begin at 11:00 am Tuesday, October 29, 2024 at the Community Hope Church in Montezuma. Chris will be laid to rest next to his son, Bryce, in the Golden Rod Cemetery in Deep River immediately following the service. Following the burial, family and friends are invited to the Community Hope Church Fellowship Hall to celebrate the life of Chris, with a time of lunch and fellowship. Visitation will begin after 2:00 pm Monday, October 28, 2024 at the Community Hope Church with the family present from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm to greet friends and relatives. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in Chris' honor may be made to the family to determine a memorial at a later time. Holland-Coble Funeral Home of Montezuma is in charge of arrangements.
Christopher Phillip Hudnut was born on December 31, 1972, in Grinnell, Iowa to Larry and Dixie (Grier) Hudnut. Chris was raised in rural Deep River and attended Tri-County Community Schools in Keswick/Thornburg until he graduated in 1991. He attended Indian Hills Community College after graduation. Chris was married to Kari (Briggs) Hudnut on November 19, 1994, and they had two boys, Brayden Phillip in 1998 and Bryce Christopher in 2001.
Chris was employed by Kelvin Gale in rural Gibson as a farmhand from seventh grade and many years after. Chris enjoyed working on the family farm for several years before moving to Montezuma, where he began working for Bushong Construction. In 2005, Chris and Kari started their own successful spray foam and coatings business. In 2015, Chris and the family moved to Logan, Iowa, where they expanded their business as Midwest Structural Repair. Chris worked tirelessly to build his business and doing quality work that he could be proud of was a deeply held value.
One of the most difficult tasks has been to define Chris Hudnut in a few short words. It's impossible to reign in the crazy brilliance, eye-rolling stubbornness, and hidden compassion on paper. He had a magnetism that had us shaking our heads because it was unexpected. One minute he was challenging every idea you ever had, and the next he was bringing you dinner whether he agreed with you or not. It didn't matter whether you were family, a friend, or a stranger, if you were hurting or in need, Chris would find a way to reach out to help. His generosity and kindness to others was remarkable.
Chris had a knack for mischief. Always quick with a big laugh, he had boisterous energy and enthusiasm for any task at hand, even if that was making a joke at the expense of his friends and family. You never doubted where you stood with Chris Hudnut. For as rough as he was around the edges, he was generous, courageous, and brilliant. He could be gruff and stubborn, mainly because he didn't want anyone to know how gentle he was at heart.
Solving problems was something Chris excelled at. He was a fix-it guy and if he didn't have what he needed in his toolbox, he'd jerry-rig something to make it work. When Kari wanted to go camping, initially he provided his family with an enclosed aluminum trailer with a window air conditioner cut into the side. His work ethic was second to none, and he crisscrossed state lines building business relationships. Chris Hudnut was known far and wide as a jack-of-all-trades and if he couldn't do the job himself, he knew a guy that could. Even the Amish invited Chris into their home for a meal, which seems the highest sort of praise.
He loved to cook, and often a new cooking device would randomly show up in one of the many locations he frequented. Chris's love language was food and though he didn't offer hugs, he offered meals he'd handcrafted with his latest gadget. Recently, he'd become a hobby potato farmer, which was a source of amusement to his friends and family, though they reaped the benefits with the canned foods he shared. Babies and children gravitated to Chris's exuberance, and if he got hold of your child, you knew they were coming back covered in chocolate and sprinkles, sticky doughnut in hand. When Kari was in a mood, he'd show up with not one bag of sweets, but a dozen.
Cheering on Brayden and Bryce at their sports events was a favorite pastime for Chris. He and his boys worked hard together, but they also played hard when they could. Usually that meant digging an ATV out of a giant mudhole down at the farm. Chris loved his family in the only way he knew how, bigly and overwhelmingly. He wasn't the most effusive with emotions, but when he put his mind to it, the love he showed was apparent to all. Our family can't imagine not seeing Chris walk through the door with his giant smile and irreverent conversation. We'd often ask Kari, "how do you live with that man?" and she'd smile and say, "if you only knew how much he loved me".
Chris's memory will be cherished by his wife of 30 years, Kari Hudnut and his son, Brayden Hudnut; his parents, Larry and Dixie Hudnut; his grandfather, Phillip Grier; his siblings, Kevin Hudnut, Amanda Hudnut, Scott (Mandy) Hudnut and their sons Michael and Nicholas, and many more relatives and friends.
Chris was preceded in death by his son Bryce in 2021, his grandparents Betty Grier, Oliver and Lucille Hudnut and his special Aunt Diane.