Judy Holiday Jones

Judy Holiday Jones died peacefully on July 1, 2020, just shy of her 69th birthday, with her husband of 48 years, Guy Spadafore, by her side.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, she was the fourth of five children of Edward and Pauline Jones. She graduated from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School in 1969, earned a B.S. in Psychology from Eastern Michigan University, and completed a Master's in Social Work at SUNY Buffalo.

Judy met Guy at 19, and the two married four months later. They began their life together in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and later moved to Rochester, New York, where Judy started her career with Catholic Family Services. There, she helped resettle Vietnamese children who had arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors after the war.

In 1985, Judy and Guy moved to New York City, fulfilling a long-held dream. They settled in Greenwich Village, where Judy joined the Senior Citizen Health and Consultation Center, part of Greenwich House. Over more than 30 years, she served as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and, beginning in 1997, as Program Director. She led a multidisciplinary clinical team focused on helping older adults remain in their homes with appropriate care and support. Her entire career was devoted to the service of others. She retired in 2017.

Judy died during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when the medical system was under extreme strain. Her death was not from COVID, but from a common infection that silently developed into sepsis, a condition that claims more than 350,000 American lives each year.

Outside of work, Judy was an avid supporter of the arts, particularly theater. She loved international travel, her city life, and took great pride in being a New Yorker.

She is survived by her siblings James, Jeffrey, Jennifer (Bob), and Jaynee; nieces and nephews Beth (Mike), Kimberly (Joe), and Robert Jr.; her great-nieces and nephews; and her sisters-in-law, Rosemary Clark (Jeff) and Charlene Mady. She is also survived by her lifelong friend, Barbara Bass (Steven). She was predeceased by her nephew Ned (Michelina) and her brother-in-law Louis.

She will be forever missed.