Arab, AL - Judith (Judy) Ann Smith Crider, 84, of Cullman, Alabama, passed away peacefully with family at her side on March 25, 2026. She was born July 21, 1941 to Herman and Vera Smith. Everyone who knew Judy knew of her deep love for her family, Jesus, her church, and her friends.

She graduated from Cullman High School and was employed at Parker Bank and, later, as the circulation manager for The Cullman Times newspaper. However, she spent most of her life as a homemaker, mother and grandmother, spoiling her grandchildren, and, later, her great-grandchildren.

She spent a lifetime extending grace and service to family, friends, and unsuspecting strangers who would later also become friends. Neither social status nor social taboo hindered her ministry, which she simply called friendship. Orphaned children, lonely nursing home residents, those struggling with addictions, sick neighbors undergoing chemotherapy, all experienced her loving care. She devoted herself to a life of loving through the Church, teaching children and living an example of what ministry is all about.

She is survived by her sons; John Crider and Jeffery Crider; her two favorite children, daughters-in-law, Donna Crider and Cheryl Crider; her brother, Jerry Smith; and grandchildren, Chase (Helen), Lindsey (Christopher), Lauren (Whit), Claire (Dillon), Carissa, and Kate (Landry); and great-grandchildren that brought her much joy in her twilight years, Corbin Crider (fiancée, Rachel Hall), Avery McGhee, Oliver and Benjamin Bloodworth, Alden and Camille Cordes, and Charlie Hall, and a host of nieces and nephews along with many friends she counted as family.

Preceding her in death was her loving husband, Norman Crider and parents, Herman and Vera Smith.

Funeral services will be held at Baldwin Heights Baptist Church in Cullman, Sunday, March 29. Visitation will begin at 1:30 p.m, and the funeral service will follow at 3 p.m. A graveside ceremony and interment will follow at the Cullman City Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Alabama Baptist Children's Home and Family Ministries. alabamachild.org