Judith MacBain Alter

1938 - 2024

Judith MacBain Alter

July 22, 1938 - July 13, 2024

Fort Worth, Texas - Judy was born July 22, 1938, in Chicago to Dr. Richard Norman and Alice Peterman MacBain. She attended public schools in Chicago, Cornell College in Iowa, and earned a BA from the University of Chicago, an M.Ed. from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and a Ph.D. in English from TCU with a primary interest in the literature of the American West.

She was the author of over a hundred books, both fiction and nonfiction, for young adult and adult readers. From 1982 until 1987, Judy was editor of TCU Press; from 1987 until 2009, she served as director. She was a member and past president of Western Writers of America, Inc., former secretary-treasurer of the Texas Institute of Letters, and a member of Sisters in Crime, Women Writing the West, the Book Ladies, and University Christian Church. Her literary awards included two Spur Awards from WWA, two Western Heritage (Wrangler) Awards from the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame, and the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement from WWA and induction into their Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2010, she was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame by the Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library. Judy continued to write throughout her life, publishing after her "retirement" 17 cozy mysteries, three cookbooks, a novel set in historic Chicago, the city of her youth, and two nonfiction titles about women in nineteenth and twentieth century Texas.

In 1964, Judy married Joel Alter of Bronx, New York, at Kirksville, Missouri. They moved to Fort Worth in 1965, where she began work on her Ph.D. and he entered practice as an osteopathic surgeon. They adopted four children before divorcing in 1982.

Judy's most important career, she always said, was raising her four children - Colin, Megan, Jamie and Jordan - as a single parent. She enjoyed frequent Alter family get-togethers in Fort Worth and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she and her family spent many Christmas holidays, and she loved to catch up with the goings-on of each of her seven grandchildren, who knew her as "Juju." Her family fondly remembers weekly Sunday-night dinners, which included extended family and many friends and were occasions for cooking, lively conversation, and much laughter. Judy was a friend to all and offered wise counsel on writing, friendship, and navigating the crazy situations that life could throw at you. Many treasured her uncritical love and friendship.

Judy's other passions included reading, cooking, and throwing fabulous parties and happy hours. She loved to entertain and did so often. Friends and family will remember her for meals shared, at her table and others, for laughter often shared and some silly moments, for many happy times spent in the cottage she called her home since 2016, for her love of the dogs - and the occasional cat - that were lucky enough to cross her path, and for her habit of always making lemonade out of lemons. She was proud of her Scottish heritage and studied it deeply, treasuring the memory of a visit to Scotland in 2010, including stops at the MacBain Memorial Park and Culloden. Judy would tell you she had a happy, good life.

She is survived by her children-Colin and his wife, Lisa; Megan and her husband, Brandon Hudgeons; Jamie; and Jordan and her husband Christian Burton; seven grandchildren-Madison, Eden, Sawyer, Morgan, Jacob, Ford, and Kegan; and friends and colleagues too numerous to count, whom she held dear.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother, John R. Peckham, and an infant sister, Isabel Jean MacBain.

A celebration of Judy's life will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24, at University Christian Church in Fort Worth. Friends may make memorial contributions to the Humane Society of North Texas or the charity of your choice.