Judith Wubben Bronson

Judith Wubben Bronson
Born on July 13, 1940 in Evanston, IL – Died on July 20, 2024 in Skokie, IL
Judy was born with an enduring, lifelong sense of adventure. As a child she fell in love with cowboys on early 1940's TV. She acted out all the stories, encouraging her talent for drama. At Marywood high school she won a dramatic arts scholarship to college, and then proceeded to win a dramatic directorial competition as a freshman at Marycrest College. After only one year there, she joined the convent for the next six years at St. Mary's of Notre Dame. Judy earned a BA in English Literature and Philosophy, and then the Order sent her to teach 4th grade in Harvard, IL for one year. She then left the convent at the age of 25 in 1965.
Her adult life was exciting and inspiring. She earned a MA in Theology from Saint Xavier University in Chicago while teaching English in Chicago Public Schools in the late 1960s. She moved to California and taught at a Catholic high school in the Bay area. She was running rivers out West and fell in love with the Grand Canyon, where she met a river guide. She married him, and after helping him with his PhD at Berkeley, they were off to Alaska – Judy's "wild West." The cowgirl in her was reborn. She was a teacher for 25 years in Alaska, and in her spare time, she got her private pilot's license and bought her own Cessna.
During her summers off from teaching, Judy went to Santa Fe, NM, and studied at St. John's College. She earned two more Master's degrees, in Western Studies and Eastern Classics. She became single again in 1995, and spent nine more years in Alaska with the dear friends she made there. Her travels took her to Jerusalem, Qumran, Athens, Ireland, Burma, and across the lower 48. She also found the time to attend the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR each summer. In 2003 Judy moved permanently to Santa Fe, and taught and tutored until 2010. Once she retired, she kept busy volunteering and helping her Cathedral friends for another ten years.
Judy spent many of her visits to the Midwest up at Corey Lake, reconnecting with family, and enjoying all the 'little ones.' In 2020 she moved back "home" and became a volunteer at the Wilmette public library's used bookstore, Books Down Under. She treasured her time working there, surrounded by books and making friends with patrons, shoppers, and staff. She often came home after a long Sunday shift with yet another bag full of books for her personal collection.
As she navigated through her unscripted life of adventure and teaching and learning, Judy constantly sought out books on her favorite subjects and by her favorite authors: Philosophy, Shakespeare, Lincoln, Black History, Religion, Native Americans, Ireland, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Willa Cather, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and so much more. Her personal library is phenomenal. Her books and her beloved, dependable Subaru of 27 years and 250k miles, were her children. She loved them almost as much as her family of five siblings – nine nieces and nephews – and many grand nieces and nephews.
Judy was a unique woman, a scholar, a pioneer, and a patriot. She will be forever loved, missed and remembered by all those who had the pleasure and the honor to have known her.
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