If you spend any length of time getting to know State Sen. Garlan Gudger, Jr. (R-Cullman), you'll quickly realize that he spends a lot of time thinking about how he can serve others. Whether it's in Montgomery or his beloved hometown in north-central Alabama, Gudger always wants to get to the bottom of the problems that the people he serves experience on a daily basis.
On July 4, though, that energy for serving people was nearly snuffed out when a freak accident came close to taking the 49-year-old's life. Speaking on the subject is difficult, both mentally and physically, as Gudger continues to recover from his extensive injuries. Still, he kindly agreed to recount the incident and aftermath in a phone interview.
"It was a beautiful day out at Smith Lake in Cullman, Alabama," he began, "It was about 1:30 [p.m.], and we have two Sea-Doos at the dock. I took one, a newer one that's just a little bit faster, and took off."
"A little bit later I was coming back, and I saw my oldest son taking off on the other one, so I went over there and chased him down, and we stopped and talked over in the slough for a little while," he recalled. "Then we decided to go pick up my wife and go look at a lot and some property that I thought was really cool."
"So I said, 'Just follow me,' and he was following me. He was right behind me but about fifty yards back. So anyway, I saw this particular house, and I was going pretty fast, and so I just slammed the brakes on it," Gudger added.
Newer Sea-Doos are equipped with an iBR, or intelligent Brake and Reverse brake system. This system deploys what the company's website describes as a "bucket" attached to the watercraft's rear to allow riders to come to an abrupt stop. At high speeds, that abrupt stop typically causes a large stream of water to rise from behind the vehicle.
"It stops you quick, and when it does, it shoots up about a 12-foot rooster tail of water," he explained. "This sounds crazy, but, in my head, it was about 12 to 14 feet, perfectly round, and the sun was coming through that day, and it was just beautiful. I turned my head back to look at it, and it felt like it just stayed there for a second, and I remember telling myself 'I need to scoot up in case my son doesn't slow down.'"
"About when I said that, I scooted up just a little bit, and he busted through the water thinking I had just done that and kept going," Gudger continued. "He couldn't see through that rooster tail. But his Sea-Doo came up the seat of mine, up my back on my left side, and then over my head. I was pushed over the handlebars, and I was still conscious when it all happened."
"I knew something was wrong — pretty majorly wrong — because I got hit so fast and so quick with a 1,500-pound machine," he added. "So, I immediately felt pain, and I decided, in my head, 'I'm just going to fall into the water' because I knew there was no gravity there, and, no matter what was happening, I thought having buoyancy might save me because I didn't have a clue how long it would take for me to figure out what was going on and how long it would be to get to a hospital."
A nearby woman, also on a Sea-Doo, came over to where Gudger had stopped, thinking that the accident had just been a stunt. Gudger, unable to speak at that point, motioned with his hands for the woman, who happened to be a nurse, to call 9-1-1. Knowing he wouldn't be able to get back on his Sea-Doo, the woman and her family slowly pulled the senator back to shore with him holding onto a pool noodle. There, he waited, floating in the shallow water on the edge of a boat ramp until an ambulance arrived.
Inside the ambulance, Gudger was given fentanyl and medication to ease the pain that he can only describe as "excruciating." From there, he was taken to nearby Trident Marina, airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, and rushed into surgery. Only then did doctors discover that the senator was suffering from internal bleeding, five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, eight fractured vertebrae and a concussion.
Those doctors eventually informed the Gudgers of just how close he had come to a totally different outcome.
"The doctors said if it had hit me two inches higher, I would've been paralyzed for life from the waist down, and if it had been three inches higher, I would've been dead."
After the bleeding was stopped, he slept for a day and remained in the intensive care unit for another week before being transferred to a step-down unit, he said. It was soon realized that Gudger was experiencing double-vision, the result of a nerve injury sustained in the accident. With limited mobility and poor eyesight, he resulted to listening to podcasts to pass the time in the hospital. With his wife, Heather, and two sons by his side, after about a month, Cullman's favorite son was home.
"There's nothing like being in your own bed," he said.
Throughout the ordeal, the family received thousands of prayers and messages from friends and strangers from all over Alabama and beyond, expressing support and wishing Gudger a speedy recovery. To those people, he's beyond grateful.
"There's no possible way we can physically or emotionally get back with everybody," he stated. "So, I just want to make sure everybody knows how much we, as a family, appreciate all of the encouragement and the wishes to be able to heal properly."
The accident has changed him, his outlook on the world and his place in it, he said. His faith has deepened. As he's been able to regain his strength, he's spent a lot of time thinking about his life.
Garlan Gudger, Jr. was born and raised in downtown Cullman, the youngest and only son of Dr. Garlan E. Gudger, Sr. and Dot Gudger. Both of his parents were educators — his father, whose name now adorns the Wallace State Community College Student Center, was the school's first Dean of Students. Gudger, Sr. also began a small business on the side, reclaiming pieces of antique architecture and selling them. Today, that business has grown into Southern Accents Architectural Antiques, one of the largest architectural salvage businesses in the nation.
After graduating from Cullman High School, Garlan went to Samford University on a football scholarship before transferring to Auburn University to pursue a degree in Building Science. When the time came for him to graduate, Garlan had a job lined up in Texas and was preparing to leave Alabama in his rearview mirror.
One night, though, his father came to see him in Auburn.
"He knocked on my door, which kind of surprised me, and we went out to eat," Garlan recalled. "He said 'I'm going to be having heart surgery, and I'm in bad health. The doctor's given me about three years to live, so I want you to come home and see me and stay with your family for the next three years, and then you can take the business to Nashville or wherever you want to.'"
He agreed to leave the Texas opportunity behind and return to Cullman.
While working at Southern Accents, Garlan said he prayed that God would send a girl for him to marry into the store because he was too career-focused to search for a spouse. That prayer was answered when he met Heather Pierce, who was in the store one day with her mother. When the younger Gudger delivered a set of doors to the Pierces, he asked for a date, and she accepted. They were married in 2002 and moved into the loft above their store, where they still reside today.
The elder Gudger ended up living for another 18 years, and, after his son donated a kidney to him in 2007, often joked that he "kept Garlan Junior around for spare parts in case [he] needed them." He passed away in 2018, just before his son won his seat in the Alabama State Senate.
Gudger, Jr. has kept Southern Accents in Cullman and, with Heather's help, has grown it from a business started in his childhood garage into a destination for antiquers from all over the country. The SAAA team travels the nation in search of architectural antiques from doorknobs to ornate fireplace mantles to restore and sell.
"I like to tell people that I'm like the Indiana Jones of architecture," Gudger said. "I get to go into old buildings that nobody has been in for 20 or 50 years, and these buildings are anywhere from Brooklyn, New York to the middle of a field in Alabama."
SAAA routinely takes tips from contractors around the country on old buildings that may soon be torn down and places bids on those buildings that they believe are worth salvaging. Gudger will note that, while most salvage businesses around the United States only salvage, Southern Accents is unique in that they provide both salvage and restoration.
The couple also started Southern Makers, a nonprofit for Alabama artists in search of a place to share their work. They held art festivals every year for five years before deciding to take a break when Gudger decided to run for the State Senate in 2018. After a long hiatus, the Gudgers say they're starting Southern Makers back up.
"What happened was a lot of people were going to a full-time job and doing art on the side, and their art was so good, but they were just too scared to quit their job," Dudger explained.
Southern Makers aims to empower and encourage artists in those circumstances to go into art 100%.
When it comes to politics, it's no surprise that it comes pretty naturally to Gudger. When asked how he got into politics, he credited Heather.
"One night, we were lying in bed, and I was complaining about how the City of Cullman had so much potential if we would just act on it, and I was on the Chamber board at the time and several other boards," he outlined. "And we were getting ready to go to bed, and she [Heather] shut her book and turned the light out, and then she turned it back on and turned to me and said 'If you're not going to do anything about making Cullman better, then just shut the hell up' and just turned the nightlight off and went to bed."
The next week, Gudger filed to run for the Cullman City Council. He won that race, beating an incumbent, and served 14 years — 10 of those as the council president. In 2018, he decided to run for the Alabama State Senate, won his primary by nearly 20%, and went unopposed in the general election.
While he's proud to serve his district in Montgomery, he misses his family and business a lot.
"It hurts because there are times my wife calls me and says 'Hey, I really need you,' but I can't leave because I'm chairing a committee the next day," he lamented. "So that bothers me — that I'm always having to keep up with the spinning plates and trying not to have one of them fall and break."
Still, he said that the best part of his job is being able to make a difference — especially for those who can't really do it for themselves.
He believes the 2025 legislative session will be a difficult one. When asked what he would do in the Senate if he were able to change anything he wanted, he said strengthening the family unit and prioritizing mental health for young Alabamians would be tier one.
He's incredibly blessed, but, all things considered, no enemy of Garlan Gudger could ever honestly call him a self-centered man.
From serving on the Student Council in high school, to giving up an out-of-state job to move back to his small town and help his ailing father, to making a space for burgeoning artists to share their talents, to serving his community in public office for two decades, Garlan Gudger lives a life of service to others.
For now, though, he's focusing on recovering from that accident that nearly killed him just over two months ago — recovering so he can go back to serving his district in Montgomery starting in February.
Riley McArdle currently serves as Chairman of The University of Alabama College Republicans and Vice Chairman of the College Republican Federation of Alabama. He is a junior majoring in Political Science and is an intern at the Alabama Republican Party.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
