Judith Dunlap

1941 - 2021

Judith Dunlap
Born: April 3, 1941 in Wood River, IL
Died: November 5, 2021 in Princeton, IL
Judith M. (Gordon Rull) Dunlap, daughter of Hazel Marie (Golike) and Clarence Richard Rull, was born April 3, 1941, in Wood River, IL. She died at the age of 80 on Friday, November 5, at Aperion Care in Princeton.
She graduated from Mt. Olive High School in Mt. Olive, IL, in 1959, from the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn with an associate's degree in 1982, and from National College of Education with a bachelor's degree in applied behavioral sciences in 1984. Judy married R. Frank Dunlap on September 3, 1960, in Peoria, IL. They had three children before divorcing in September 1978. At the age of 50, Judy was officially adopted by Clarence Rull, who had married Hazel and joined the family when Judy was a toddler.
While she was only 4 foot 11 inches at her tallest, she could be intimidating. She has been described as a "force of nature" and "the embodiment of though she be tiny, she be fierce!" She might have been fierce,but she also was very giving. She was a volunteer emergency medical technician for the Princeton ambulance service when it was first formed. She also volunteered at her grandchildren's schools and many other children called her Grandma Judy. She was a volunteer tutor for the I-READ Adult Literacy Program where she helped adults who were learning English, helped adults learn basic reading skills and helped in a GED classroom. Other community positions or service Judy provided included answering a crisis hotline, teaching Sunday school, directing nursing home activities, volunteering for a domestic violence shelter, volunteering for a hospice organization, serving on the E9-1-1 county board, serving as a Dover village trustee, mentoring a teen, authoring an information paper for the League of Women Voters, coaching girls softball, leading a Campfire Girls troop, and publishing a story in the college paper.
Even after being admitted to the nursing home in June after she had had a heart attack, she continued to help. She said, "Everybody needs help in this place." She helped lost residents find their rooms. She helped her roommate stay covered when she was sick in bed. She made sure nurses or CNAs helped those who needed assistance. Everyone at the nursing home said she was sweet. Despite the pain that she lived in for innumerable years, she gave what she could when she could. She raised three children who didn't turn out all that bad. She held many jobs, from being a waitress in high school to being a ballroom dancing instructor to selling Avon to being a receptionist for two optometrists to selling real estate to owning a neighborhood grocery store to selling floor covering to working for Hewlett Packard to providing in-home care to working at Bergner's in her retirement. She even continued to say that she needed to get a job while she was in the nursing home.
She was well-known for her heart-shaped glasses, which she first bought while working for an optometrist. She refused to get any other shaped lenses, and wherever she went, someone always commented on how cute they were. Her sense of humor and fierce independence were with her until the end. While her death was a blessing for her, her life was an even greater blessing to those who knew her. Besides giving her time to her community through volunteering and working those numerous jobs, she was creative in writing, house rehabbing, and coloring. She wrote in her 50th class reunion book, "I guess it could be said I have experienced a lot and accomplished little, but if it came to 'sit it out or dance,' I danced."
She is survived by her three favorite children, Denise (Dave) Walters of Dover, Angela Dunlap of Princeton and Dennis (Kris) Dunlap of Fayetteville, NC; five grandchildren, Austin (Ross) Alexander of Comstock, MN, Grant (Rhoda) Walters of Scottsdale, AZ, Katelyn (Alex), Kelsey and Riley Dunlap, all of Fayetteville, NC; and her sister Barb (Manny) Varela of Peru,IL.
She was preceded in death by her parents and one sister, Gigi Rull.
A Memorial Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 10 at Fiocchi-Jensen Funeral Home, Princeton. Private online condolences may be left for her family at www.FiocchiFuneralHomes.com. Memorials may be directed to Gateway Services, Princeton.