Longtime North Texas judge described as community icon dies after battle with COVID-19
A longtime Wise County judge known for his public service and fairness died due to complications from COVID-19 Sunday.
Judge Melton Cude, 65, presided over the County Court-at-Law No. 1 and had served as a judge for more than 30 years. Through his service as a judge, involvement in his church and dedication to his community, Cude was a “true public servant,” his cousin Martin Woodruff said.
“We can truly say life in Wise County is better because he was here,” Woodruff said. “I don’t think anybody had a problem bringing a case before Melton’s court.”
Cude went to Texas A&M and attended Baylor University Law School, and he was elected to his ninth term as county judge in 2014.
“He was such a fine man. We’re going to miss him terribly,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said. “He’s just one of those guys you think will always be there because he’s a steady, steady force in so many ways.”
About two weeks ago, Cude tested positive for COVID-19. Ten days before his death, he was hospitalized as he battled COVID-19, Woodruff said. While at first Cude seemed to stabilize, the family was never able to transfer Cude to a Dallas hospital as they planned. And while he exercised and took care of himself, underlying conditions complicated his recovery.
As a county judge, Cude still worked from the courthouse and was in contact with people daily. He mostly only went to the courtroom and to church, so Woodruff assumes Cude may have caught coronavirus from one of those places.
On Nov. 16, the Wise County offices closed for disinfection “due to an increase in the number of staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19,” according to the Wise County Messenger. The county said two staff members had tested positive, but did not release their names. One of those who tested positive was described as working in Cude’s County Court at Law No. 1 office and reportedly had last been at work on Nov. 12.
Cude’s family is from Decatur and many of them wound up back in Wise County in their adult lives, Woodruff said. In 1982, Cude married his wife, who still lives in Decatur, and had two children. They have several grandchildren.
Cude also coached Little League and was a Boy Scout master in Wise County, said Mason Woodruff, Martin Woodruff’s brother and Cude’s other cousin.
Mason Woodruff often found himself in Cude’s courtroom during his 36 years as an attorney. He cannot remember ever seeing Cude lose his temper, and said he only knows of one instance where a party was angry with his ruling.
“He gave a fair shake to everybody,” Mason Woodruff said.
Cude may have gotten COVID-19 while on a camping trip, he said. The last time Mason Woodruff saw his cousin was at a restaurant just before Cude and his wife left for the trip with another couple. All four of them were diagnosed with coronavirus afterward.
Cude was his usual jovial self at that last meeting, laughing as he visited with his family, Mason Woodruff said.
County-wide recognition
Martin Woodruff finished his fourth term as mayor of Decatur in November. Each day, he poured over coronavirus statistics to make city-wide decisions. But while he saw case numbers every day, nothing has brought the virus home like his cousin’s death.
“A lot of the folks, at least up in Wise County who had cases, a whole lot of them recovered,” he said. “I would hear things like, ‘OK they were sick for a week or 10 days and quarantined at home and eventually got better, like a bad case of the flu. But then when something like Melton’s situation happens, you realize there are a whole lot of people where it is not just a bad case of the flu.”
Wise County has had a total of 1,768 coronavirus cases, according to the New York Times COVID-19 data tracking.
Cude’s family, like many who have lost loved ones to coronavirus, were taken aback by the speed of the virus.
“We were all trying to maintain a positive outlook,” Martin Woodruff said. “Surely Melton would get better because to the rest of us, he seemed like a healthy guy.”
Cude was an icon within an icon — a well-known figure who was most often found within the granite and terra cotta walls of the iconic Wise County courthouse, Akin said. He was a source of positivity and wisdom for the county as a whole.
“Daggum, we love that guy,” he said. “It hurt us. It hurt us a lot to lose him. We expected he would be here for a long time to bless us with some wise council.”
The entire community mourns the death of Cude, who was known as a fair and honest judge who “had such a pleasant, optimistic spirit about him,” Wise County Judge J.D. Clark said in a Facebook post.
“Judge Cude- as a human, as a judge, and as an elected official- was just about as good as it gets,” the Facebook post said. “He was a true public servant and continually invested his time and his heart in this community.”
Gov. Greg Abbott approved a request from Clark for all Wise County flags to lower to half-staff on Monday out of respect for Cude. He also expressed his condolences to the community for Cude’s death.
Cude’s funeral service is at 2 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Decatur with burial at Oaklawn Cemetery.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 2:40 PM.
