Wearing an elegant gown and blowing a brass horn, the future Charlsie Budd was irresistible to the man who would later become her husband, as he glimpsed her performing in a band at a crowded club. “She was a trumpet player,” said her husband, Richard. “And then she messed around with the bass fiddle. I started following her to all these towns” such as Quincy, Ill., and Muncie, Ind.. Mrs. Budd, 77, died Saturday, Sept. 4, of cancer in her Riverdale home. She was born in Denison, Texas, and both she and her sister learned to play brass instruments in a high school marching band. She enrolled in college in Denton, Texas, but abandoned her studies to perform in the Philippines and other Pacific locales with the USO after World War II. Upon her return she performed in several traveling “all-girl” bands, notably the Quadettes, her husband said. After her marriage in 1954, her touring stopped and she played fewer gigs, her final engagement being a six-month stand at the former Old Heidelberg Restaurant on Randolph Street. While raising two daughters, she took a job as a sales clerk in the children’s section of the Marshall Field’s store in the River Oaks Shopping Center in Calumet City. “She loved the kids’ section,” her husband said. “That’s where she always wanted to be.” Her career there lasted 27 years. Other survivors include two daughters, Zoe-Anne Evelsizer and Lesley Anne Budd; two brothers, William and Nils “Sandy” Rutherford; and two grandchildren. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Thornridge Funeral Home, 15801 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Dolton. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday in Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, 207 W. 145th St., Riverdale.
