JUDITH MEADE

We miss her so much...it hurts everyday.

Like my classmates, I have nothing but wonderful memories of Judy. She was the girl with the big smile and even bigger heart. There is always a special place for the people who accepted and loved us through the awkward adolescent years. The fun, laughs, silliness, tears, and angst we all shared are special to me. My sincerest sympathy to Bill, Patrick, and Henry. I can only imagine the depth of her love for you and hope that it is a comfort to you.

Dear Judy,
For the past forty years we have stayed connected. I was able to visit you in Atlanta right after your family moved there and again after college when we were both working girls. You later moved up to New York City and were were hanging out all the time! We even went on a ski vacation to Canada one winter.

After I got married and moved up to Westchester County we lost touch, but not for long! Some years later I turned around at Premier Athletic Club in Montrose and there you were. You had gotten married and you and Bill were living two miles away from me.

We again had several years of hanging out...lunches,dinners and a Christmas party in that amazing house on College Hill Road. I watched you blossom being pregnant with Patrick and Henry and remember visiting you at Hudson Valley Hospital after they were born. As the boys grew into toddlers, the "city girl" realized the country was not for her and you guys moved back to Manhattan.

We kept in touch but it wasn't until this past February that I finally got down to the city and we spent the day together. I will cherish that day. We caught up on all our kids, the husbands, friends and family. It was a beautiful winter day and we took a stroll on Riverside Drive. We promised to get together soon.

We will always be connected in my heart and memories. And as it has always been, we will turn around and see each other again.
Love, Cathy

I heard the unfortunate news of Judy's passing right before our 40th high school reunion. Even though I hadn't seen Judy since graduating high school, I felt very saddened. I had to smile thinking of Judy with her curly hair and infectious smile. I have a vision of her in her Leader's Corp jacket laughing at herself for some awkward thing she's just done or said. She was a real sweetheart and will be sorely missed. My condolences to her husband and twin boys who lost their wife and mother way too soon.

Judy is someone I'd always hoped I'd see again.

I knew her in high school -- heard the sad news Friday night at our 40th reunion. I hadn't seen her in many years, since a few years after we'd all graduated from college. She'd just gotten this spectacular (if tiny) apartment on the upper east side with a marble mantle, fancy details and very high ceilings, and I remember thinking, "Wow, this girl knows something I don't know!"

In high school she was always up for whatever insanity we planned, always fun, always a good friend. And always fretting -- she'd scream "I'm mortified," at the slightest provocation, but clearly, later in life, she found herself.

When I found out about her untimely passing, all I could think about was how, back in the early 70s, she would roll her hair on orange juice cans, trying, in vain, to make it straight. Back then, none of us were happy with who we were. But it sounds like since then Judy came into her own in the best possible way. I only wish I had seen her again.

My condolences to her husband, family and friends, and especially (because I am also a mother of twins) to her two boys.