Judith Esther Burrows-Hedman

1939 - 2014

Judith Esther Burrows-Hedman passed away suddenly on February 28, 2014 in Nipomo, CA.
Judith was born November 16, 1939 to Joseph and Elinore Peters in Hanford, California. On her parental side, she was a direct descendant of an early California family, the Olivas' of the early 1800's. Her family figures prominently in the history of Ventura, California. The Olivas Adobe built by her 5th great-grandfather, Don Raymundo Olivas, stands today in Ventura and is an important historic landmark. Judy always said she learned tolerance, graciousness and faith from that heritage. Her maternal grandparents, Gustav and Hedvig Nielson Peterson, were immigrants from Sweden, and offered gifts of art, writing and high standards to live by. Judy was proud of her heritage and her loving family which included her two brothers, James (Carol) Peters, of Lincoln, CA and Tim (Joan) Peters, of Shingletown, CA, and her 6 nieces and nephews, along with many wonderful cousins.
Judy was married to Gary Burrows in 1961 and they had two beloved daughters, Elizabeth (Michael) Allen, and Jeanne (Brian) Castadio. Judy and Gary immensely loved them and their ten grandchildren, Tom (Felicity) Allen, Chris (Nidia) Allen, Brendan Allen, Kelley (Mike) Castadio-Dow, Heather Allen, Stephanie Allen, Ryan Castadio, Melissa (Drew) Allen-Groathouse, Chris Castadio, and Kevin Castadio. Judy felt tremendously blessed to have and held her great-grandchildren, Alek Allen and Olive Quinn Allen and adored her great-granddaughter Zoe Bryan. A week before her passing, she was blessed with a fourth great-grandchild, Maisy Allen Scott, and another whom she was awaiting the birth of in April, Baby Dow.
Her second marriage was to Tom Hedman, blessed her with stepsons, Randy "Buck" (Kristen) Hedman, Blair (Rizza) Hedman, and Gregg Hedman and step-grandchildren, Brennan, Mequel, Carissa, Micah, Tiffany and Audrea, and great-grandchild, Illiana.
Judy's intense interest in people encouraged her letter writing as she would send lovely handwritten letters and cards to her family and friends as she felt the need. Whether as a thank you, a note of condolence or just a friendly memory, she always took the time to write. She was a talented artist from a young age. Learning from her mother, she painted with oil paints, acrylics and ink. Her drawing of downtown Lemoore for the Centennial celebration in 1973 was published in the official Centennial program. She also loved creating some of the drawings for the Mary Immaculate Queen School's annual Fall Festival t-shirts which she would secretly include the faces of her grandchildren on.
She had a lifelong interest in Christianity. Once, when she was very young, she disappeared from her home in Coalinga, and was found by her panicked parents singing along with the choir (holding her coloring book as a song book) at the corner church. She was baptized Catholic as an infant and attended many different religions through her years. If someone would speak ill regarding a religion, she would research it to see if the facts were true, even attending their services. Eventually, she came back to her Catholic Christian faith that was instilled in her by her father and ancestors. She was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church in Nipomo, CA. She loved the California Missions. Her favorite was San Buena Ventura Mission in Ventura, Ca.
She attended Westside elementary as a child living at Cal Flax Ranch. She graduated from Lemoore High School in 1957 and continued to meet up with her girlfriends from high school as recent as February. She attended COS in Visalia before getting married and raising her family in Lemoore, CA. She was a commercial decorator in Fresno in the early 1990's. She was proud of her redesign of the Franklin Life Building in downtown Fresno and the Cablevision building also. She settled in Nipomo, California six years ago, building her dream home with her husband at the Monarch Dunes Golf Course where she enjoyed relaxing and building new friendships with her neighbors.
We will miss her outstanding ambience, unconditional love and of course her handwritten letters.
Viewing will be held for Judy on Friday, March 7th, 2014 beginning at 4:00 p.m. at Phipps-Dale Funeral Chapel in Lemoore followed by Recitation of the Holy Rosary at 6:00 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church with interment following in Lemoore Cemetery.
Contributions in Judy's memory should be made to St. Peter's Church Building Fund 870 N. Lemoore Avenue, Lemoore, CA 93245, Covenant House for Homeless Youth at covenanthouse.org, or Ontiveros School, 930 W. Rancho Verde, Santa Maria, CA 93454.