“We were having a family cookout, reunion,” she told CNN in an interview with Don Lemon.
“Many from Springfield were there. It was a beautiful day,” she said.
She said Fudge had plans to paint his granddaughter’s bedroom for her upcoming birthday and he was upbeat about his life.
“It was good to see him on the upswing and happy about life,” Southall said. “I didn’t know that that was the last time I’d see him alive, I would have probably stayed a little longer and talked with him, but I am glad that is the memory I do have with him and it’s a good memory.”
Fudge and eight others were killed Sunday morning when Connor Betts, 24, opened fire on people standing outside a popular bar. The other people killed were 22-year-old Megan Betts, the sister of the shooter; Lois Oglesby, 27; Saeed Saleh, 38; Logan Turner, 30; Nicholas Cumer, 25, Thomas McNichols, 25, Beatrice Warren-Curtis, 36 and Monica Brickhouse, 39.
Southall spoke to the Springfield News-Sun just hours after the shooting and told the newspaper Fudge was a good person.
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