From Navy blues to tractors

M.E. Rudy, founder and longtime owner of Culpeper Motor Corporation on Bus. 29, was just 23 when this picture was taken of him in Warrenton in 1950.
Notice the Navy blues.

Born in New York, but raised in adjoining Fauquier County, on a farm near Marshall, Rudy spent three years overseas in the U.S. Navy Special Forces during World War II, serving from 1943 to 1946.

Apparently, his mission was especially important.

“We had 48 ships in a convoy going to the atom bomb dropping,” he said. “Of course, we didn’t know that at the time.”

The year after a young Rudy was discharged in 1946 President Truman got Congress to install the Central Intelligence Agency, Rudy said.

Today, he’s 81 and still running Culpeper Motor Corp., which he founded 1956 on South East Street. Rudy has lived in Culpeper since then, and remains dedicated to offering the finest in lawn and garden equipment.—by Allison Brophy Champion