Rogersville mother behind viral 'Ramen noodle' post killed in Wednesday crash
A woman from Rogersville who spent her life helping children − and garnered national attention for a touching post about her son − was killed in a Wednesday afternoon crash.
Aubren Dudley, 30, was on Missouri 126 at Route T, six miles west of Golden City in Barton County, when the Chevrolet Malibu she was driving hit the side of a Freightliner Cascadia driven by Patrick Wright, 35, of Houston, Texas.
According to a detailed LinkedIn profile, Dudley had worked in recent years for the state Children's Division, where she helped youth and their families in southwest Missouri.
"She was very independent and a strong advocate for kids in foster care," said Angie Pratt, a longtime family friend.
She previously spent 3-1/2 years at FosterAdopt Connect, where she was a family and resource development advocate. She had worked as a teacher's aide and substitute at the Greene Valley State School in Springfield and as an assistant manager at the Arc of the Ozarks.
"She was valued and loved by everyone in the foster/adopt community," Pratt said.
Pratt said Dudley was adored by coworkers and families because of a "genuine passion to love and help everyone and find kids permanency and parents reunite with their kids while also supporting the foster families through the processes."
In 2019, a social media post by Dudley went viral and was later shared by Good Morning America.
In it, Dudley shared the story of one of her sons who was adopted out of foster care. She found him in the kitchen eating an uncooked package of Ramen noodles.
Dudley wrote her son explained that while living with his "old family," he found change and took it to the store to buy Ramen packets, which he and a younger sibling ate so they had food.
The post read, in part: "He said he didn't know how to boil water so he would eat it like this."
In the post initially shared on the Facebook page for Barren to Blessed, Dudley wrote: "We can't imagine what kids from hard places have lived through. It is not just about one act of abuse or neglect, it is about living in survival mode and doing it day in and day out. It is about making sure younger siblings are also surviving, even at the expense of childhood."
A month ago, a campaign was started on GoFundMe, an online fundraising site, to raise money to support Dudley and her family. She recently fell ill and had been diagnosed with endocarditis and kidney failure.
"Aubren was born with a heart defect and required several heart surgeries over the years. Due to her heart condition she and her husband decided to adopt," said Pratt, who started the GoFundMe. "Over a few years they adopted five kiddos. Dealing with trauma of kids (was) her passion and she was amazing at it."
The fundraiser said Dudley was going through dialysis and was on strong medications and was expected to need heart surgery. She was married to Zach Dudley, who worked for Missouri State Highway Patrol, and they had five children.
"As a mom she was amazing, she juggled five kids, a husband that worked odd hours as a highway patrol, and worked way more than 40 hours a week at her job and she handled it like a hero, always putting her family first," Pratt said. "Her husband and her kids were always her first priority and she made sure everyone knew that."
According to the highway patrol, Dudley failed to yield and was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash was reported at 1:35 p.m. Wednesday and no other injuries were reported.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri mother behind viral Ramen noodle post dies in car crash
