Carroll Hubbard, Jr., 85, passed away on November 12, 2022 at Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Paducah, Kentucky. Mr. Hubbard was born on July 7, 1937 in Murray, Kentucky to Dr. Carroll Hubbard, Sr., a Baptist minister, and Beth Hubbard, an elementary school teacher. Several of Mr. Hubbard’s early years were spent in Beaver Dam, Kentucky and then in Ashland, Kentucky. In 1953, Mr. Hubbard moved to Louisville, Kentucky, when his father became pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church. In Louisville, Mr. Hubbard attended Eastern High School, where he graduated in 1955.
After high school, Mr. Hubbard attended Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. At Georgetown College, Mr. Hubbard was editor-in-chief of the Georgetonian, the weekly college newspaper. Mr. Hubbard also was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity and served as President of the fraternity during his senior year. Also during his senior year at Georgetown College, Mr. Hubbard was selected as “Mr. Georgetonian.”
After graduating from Georgetown College with a degree in sociology in 1959, Mr. Hubbard attended the University of Louisville Law School, where he received a full scholarship. While in law school, Mr. Hubbard became active in politics, serving as youth chairman for several statewide campaigns.
In July of 1960, Mr. Hubbard was a member of the Kentucky state delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California, serving as an alternate delegate. There, he witnessed the nomination of John F. Kennedy as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States. In January of 1961, Mr. Hubbard made his first trip to Washington, D.C., to attend President Kennedy’s inauguration.
After graduating from law school in 1962, Mr. Hubbard served in the Kentucky Air National Guard and moved to Mayfield, Kentucky where he practiced law for several years.
In 1967, Mr. Hubbard defeated incumbent State Senator George Brand, to be elected to the Kentucky State Senate. At the age of 30, Mr. Hubbard was the youngest member of the State Senate at that time. In 1968, Mr. Hubbard was chosen by the Kentucky Jaycees as one of the three Outstanding Young Men of Kentucky. Mr. Hubbard continued to serve in the Kentucky State Senate until 1974.
In May 1974, Mr. Hubbard defeated incumbent Congressman Frank Stubblefield in the Democratic primary election to represent Kentucky’s First District in the United States Congress. Mr. Hubbard then won the general election in November 1974 and began serving in Congress in Washington, D.C. in January 1975.
As one of 75 freshmen members of the 94 th Congress, Mr. Hubbard was elected as president of this large freshman class of new U.S. Representatives. Mr. Hubbard was reelected to Congress in the elections of 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990, serving the people of the First District of Kentucky for 18 years in Washington, D.C.
While in Congress, Mr. Hubbard was a member of the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee and House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. In addition to his office at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, Mr. Hubbard maintained district offices in Madisonville, Henderson, Hopkinsville and Paducah, Kentucky and travelled back to Kentucky from Washington nearly every weekend, where he participated in hundreds of community meetings and events, gave countless speeches, and shook an immeasurable number of hands.
Correspondence with the district’s constituents also took up much of Mr. Hubbard’s time during his days in Congress. In this era before e-mail and social media, Mr. Hubbard personally signed and sent literally hundreds of thousands of letters, newsletters, calendars and Christmas cards to the citizens of Western Kentucky.
Also while in Congress, Mr. Hubbard had the opportunity to meet all four Presidents who served our nation during that time: President Gerald Ford, President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan, and President George H.W. Bush.
In his later years, the main joys of Mr. Hubbard’s life were living in Western Kentucky, spending time with his devoted wife, Wilda, and being “Papa” to his five grandchildren who adored him.
Mr. Hubbard is preceded in death by his parents, Carroll Hubbard, Sr. and Beth Hubbard and by his brother, Kyle Truett Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard is survived by his wife, Wilda Hubbard, his daughters, Kelly Hubbard Estes (Tim) and Krista Hubbard Britton (Chris), granddaughters Ashley Estes, Kendall Britton, and Amber Estes, grandsons Justin Estes and Grady Britton, and his nephew Kyle Truett Hubbard, Jr. (Stacey).
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Mayfield Graves County Tornado Relief Fund.
A funeral service is scheduled for 11:00 AM Saturday November 19, 2022 at Byrn Funeral Home in Mayfield, Kentucky. Entombment will follow in the Murray Cemetery Mausoleum. Visitation will be held from 5 PM until 8 PM Friday November 18, 2022 and from 10 AM until 11 AM Saturday November 19, 2022 at the Byrn Funeral Home in Mayfield.