William D. Dudney

William D. Dudney was born in Plainfield, New Jersey on August 16, 1955 with a defective heart that caused doctors to believe he would not live. Not only did he survive, he thrived, living a full and wonderful life for 70 years. After a recent decline in health, Bill passed away on December 16, 2025 surrounded by family.

The youngest child of T. Earl and Susan Dudney, Bill moved with his two brothers and two sisters from New England to Kingsport, TN in 1966. Bill graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School in 1973, the University of Tennessee in 1977, and the Graduate School of Banking of the South at LSU in 1987.

Bill’s first employment was as a sales clerk at Sobel’s Mens Store under the inestimable tutelage of Norman Sobel. In 1972, as a seventeen-year-old high school senior, a guidance counselor tapped him for a job opportunity as an afterschool coin roller at First Tennessee Bank. Thus began an illustrious forty-year career in banking. Along the way to his retirement in 2017, he excelled at every level of banking from teller to President, spending the majority of his career at First Tennessee Bank in Memphis, Chattanooga and Kingsport, and Citizens Bank in the Tri-Cities.

Bill had a big heart, with the x-rays to prove it, that guided his lifelong dedication to the service of others. Bill’s community involvement was extensive, including leadership roles within the Downtown Kingsport Association, Kingsport Chamber of Commerce, FunFest, Kiwanis Club, United Way, Girls Inc., The Tennessee Bankers Association, and Mountain View United Methodist Church.

Above all, Bill was a family man. As a freshly licensed sixteen-year-old, he asked Janyce Ralston, the future love of his life, out on a date and they were married exactly five years later. In the twists and turns of their life together, they welcomed four children, three sons-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and ten grandchildren.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, his grandparents, Sally and George Bowling of Lafayette, AL and John and Rose Dudney of Kingsport, his aunt, Elizabeth “Lib” Dudney of Kingsport and his uncle, Randolph Bowling of Lafayette, AL.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Janyce Ralston Dudney, his children, Brooke (Andy) Adams, Laura (Adam) Goodwin, John (Heather) Dudney and Rachel (Jonathan) Hight; his grandchildren, Anne Marie, Eleanor, Charlotte and Meg Adams, Lillian and Hannah Goodwin, Charlie and Max Dudney, and Ruth and William Hight; his siblings, Susan (Jim) Greene, Tom (Diane) Dudney, Steve “Bo” (Gloria) Dudney, and Anne Kilgore; his uncle, William (Libba) Bowling and his mother-in-law, Jeannette Ralston as well as a plethora of nieces, nephews, cousins, and a long list of dear lifelong friends.

Memorial services will be conducted on Saturday, January 3, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Kingsport with Rev. Mandy Taylor Young officiating.

The family will receive friends and family following the memorial service in the atrium of the church.

In memory of Bill, contributions can be made to the United Way of Greater Kingsport or the charity of one’s choice.