Judy Hoover

Judy Hoover leaves a legacy of community building, public service and an indomitable spirit to the end. She died Oct. 11, 2009 of bile duct cancer at age 68 after seven months of life-prolonging interventions and more than two amazing months in the care of Whatcom Hospice, her children and many incredible friends. In her final days, Judy rested overlooking the bay so emblematic of the beauty she and her late husband, Ken Hoover, found in Bellingham since 1989. Judy was born Sept. 11, 1941 in Ann Arbor, Mich. to Gene and Jewel Maybee, a junior high principal and homemaker respectively. Ever bright, Judy was valedictorian in high school, setting a high bar for her younger brother, John. With a keen eye for injustice, she helped lead the fight for an African American classmate's right to join their sorority at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Judy met Ken Hoover at Beloit, and they cemented their attraction during a whirlwind visit in New York City before she shipped out for her junior year in Ireland. They married in 1963, six months before Judy graduated. Good Catholics, they welcomed baby Andrew just 10 months later. Erin followed a year after. Then, as they tell it, they left the Church and invested in the pill. Judy put aside plans of a teaching career to care for Andy and Erin while Ken pursued his PhD in Political Science at UW Madison. She blossomed professionally while Ken taught at the College of Wooster in Ohio, writing the grant that won Wooster an All American City award in 1974. She obtained her master's in sociology at Wooster. The family relocated to Racine, Wisc. where Judy ran a home office for Congressman Les Aspin, later Secretary of Defense under Clinton. Western Washington University lured Ken and hence Judy to this then-sleepy town on the country's upper left edge. Gob-smacked, as Ken would say, by the scenery, they set about building community in their South Hill neighborhood, at the university and the First Congregational Church. Whatcom Community College hired Judy to launch its foundation and she went on to secure grants that helped Whatcom transition to a full-fledged campus from a college-without-walls. Soon after retirement, Judy endured the heartbreaking loss of Ken to brain cancer July 14, 2007 - but not before they were able to relive the sentinel moments of their courtship 46 years earlier with a return to trip to New York. Judy went on to serve on the Bellingham Planning Commission, expand her friendships, walk regularly and read widely including with her book group of 15 years. She reveled in her children, their spouses Kristen Kim Hoover and Galen Barnett, and her grandsons Benjamin Hoover, 10, and Cole Barnett, 4. Though her death was untimely, her time was well spent. She fulfilled her vow to live until she died and in the days before she did, she left us with these words: "I'm not going to live the life I wanted to live, but I have been blessed in so many ways. The biggest part is just being grateful for what you have and keeping that foremost in your mind." A memorial service will be 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at the First Congregational Church of Bellingham, 2401 Cornwall Ave. Donations to Interfaith Coalition, a multi-denominational good works nonprofit where Judy served as a board president, also at 2401 Cornwall Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225.