Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Emma Jean SPEARS
Emma Jean "E.J." Spears Mudd and Roger Mudd were married Oct. 26, 1957 and had four children toegther.
By RANDY HALLMAN | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: June 13, 2011
Emma Jeanne Spears Mudd — E.J. to all who knew her — was an accomplished poet and prose writer whose work appeared in The New York Times and national magazines. She was a sculptor and painter.
She was a Foreign Service officer and worked as a translator. Her good looks once landed her an appearance as a movie extra. She was treasured as a friend. She could be the life of a party.
Still, perhaps her most formidable talent was as the wife of newsman Roger Mudd and mother of their four children.
Mrs. Mudd, of McLean, died Tuesday in an Arlington County hospital of complications from a heart attack suffered May 20. She was 86.
Roger Mudd met his wife-to-be in Richmond, her hometown, in 1957. He had worked at The Richmond News Leader and at radio station WRNL but had moved on to Washington, where his broadcast career was gathering steam. She had worked as a copywriter at Thalhimers department store and was a copywriter at WRNL.
In his autobiographical book, "The Place to Be," Roger Mudd recalls their first meeting. "She was gorgeous," he writes. "She had grown up in Richmond, graduated from William and Mary, joined the Foreign Service, worked in the code room at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, learned to speak Italian fluently, translated for Errol Flynn's film company, knocked around Europe for a year or so and returned to Richmond intellectually and philosophically transformed by the experience."
On Sunday, looking back to the beginning of their relationship, he noted that "she had done lots of things I hadn't. I was knocking around Virginia, North Carolina and Washington — never been west of anywhere, or east of anywhere for that matter.
"She was a responsive, smart, observant woman. She was amazing."
And, he noted, beautiful. She had left the Foreign Service rather than accept a post outside Italy, which she loved, he said. While she was still in Rome, she "and a few other good-looking young women" were cast as extras in "Roman Holiday," starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
The extras show up in the movie on Rome's Spanish Steps. Roger Mudd warns that the scene has been edited out of the version available nowadays.
While her husband became one of the most recognizable television newsmen in America, Mrs. Mudd held the fort at home, helping make it possible for him to devote his time and energy to his career. Besides raising three sons and a daughter, she was at home with a social whirl that included world-renowned figures in the spheres of the arts, sports, politics and more.
Jim Lehrer of "PBS NewsHour" said he and his wife became fast friends with the Mudds "because our children were in high school together." He said Mrs. Mudd was a riveting presence.
"She was one of those rare people whose views can change in light of new information," he said. "She listened, she read, she thought. … She was very astute about human nature, willing to be alert to changes."
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Mudd's survivors include a sister, June McCarty of Richmond; three sons, Daniel H. Mudd of Greenwich, Conn., Jonathan Mudd of Washington, and Matthew M. Mudd of McLean; a daughter, Maria M. Ruth of Olympia, Wash.; 11 grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren.
A private funeral Mass was held Saturday in Washington.
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