Student remembered for service, selflessness
Nielson Rudd served in the Army National Guard while attending MU.
Published Dec. 15, 2007
Nielson Rudd, MU junior and Missouri National Guard officer candidate, lived to help others, and he died trying to do his duty, his father said.
Rudd died Sunday when he was struck by a car near Jefferson City after stopping to help a stranded driver. He was 22 years old.
In March 2003, Mr. Rudd joined the Missouri National Guard military police. He was on his way home from a weekend drill at Fort Leonard Wood when he died.
Rudd's parents and girlfriend, Mina Im, had visited him Sunday at Fort Leonard Wood for a holiday banquet. They were driving home when Mr. Rudd saw a stopped motorist on U.S. 63. He told his girlfriend, who was in another car ahead of him, to go ahead and stopped to assist the stranded motorist.
As he was headed back to his car, he was hit and killed by a third vehicle that lost control on the ice, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report.
Mr. Rudd wasn't acting out of carelessness, Nielson's father Tom Rudd said, and he wasn't just a Good Samaritan.
"He was doing what he thought was his duty," he said. "He was doing his job."
His sense of duty was a core part of Nielson Rudd's life, Tom Rudd said. Neilson Rudd had intended to join the military since he was 12 years old, wavering only in choosing a military branch in which to serve. But from a very young age, Neilson Rudd showed extraordinary concern for others, Tom Rudd said.
"My son, since he was 5 years old, was always trying to protect other people and animals," he said.
Nielson Rudd was born in Belleville, Ill., and grew up in Town and Country, Mo. He graduated from Parkway West High School in Ballwin, where he played football and lacrosse.
Although he intended to join the U.S. Army out of high school, Mr. Rudd instead enrolled at MU and joined the Army ROTC in deference to his parents, Tom Rudd said.
But Neilson Rudd decided that ROTC wasn't for him and instead joined the Missouri National Guard. He entered the Officer Candidate School earlier this year and wanted to be an Army Ranger, Tom Rudd said.
"He liked to tease and joke with people," he said. "He was very playful, but he was also very serious about what he wanted to do."
Im, who dated Mr. Rudd for five months and had known him for a year, said the Army was a major part of his life.
"He wanted to be out there helping people," she said. "He loved his country, and he would do anything to help anybody."
At MU, Mr. Rudd was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity and the Diversity Peer Educators.
"He always made sure he treated everyone with respect," Im said. "He had probably the biggest heart out of anyone I know."
Nielson Rudd was also an avid hunter and snowboarder, Tom Rudd said.
While serving in the Missouri National Guard, Rudd had earned the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Schrader Funeral Home, 14960 Manchester Road in Ballwin. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Schrader Funeral Home. The burial ceremony will be Monday at 11:30 a.m. at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 2900 Sheridan Road in St. Louis.