Judith Lee McCombs

Judith "Judy" Lee McCombs passed away on April 27, 2024 in Olney, Maryland at age 85. Growing up in a geodetic surveyor's family, Judy spent her childhood in over 20 states before settling in Arlington, Virginia for high school. Awarded her Bachelors and Masters by the University of Chicago in the early 1960s, Judy embarked on a career as a writer and scholar, teaching creative writing at Wayne State University and the Center for Creative Studies College of Art & Design in Detroit and the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD.

Judy published five books of poetry: Sisters and Other Selves; 20/20 Visionary Eclipse; Against Nature: Wilderness Poems; Territories, Here & Elsewhere; and The Habit of Fire, as well as hundreds of poems and short fiction pieces. Her published scholarly works included two books, Critical Essays on Margaret Atwood and Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Canadian Embassy Senior Fellowship, and the Maryland State Arts Council Award in Poetry. Judy served as the founding editor of Moving Out, which was the nation's second oldest feminist literary magazine. Judy continued to write and publish well into her 80s and was an active member of the Federal Poets and New Room Poets and organized poetry readings at Kensington Row Books.

Judy is survived by her husband of 63 years, Ernst Benjamin; daughter Cassandra Benjamin (Brian Hefty); son Dan Benjamin (Mark Braun); grandchildren Zoë Benjamin and Greffen Luk Benjamin-Braun; sister Anna McCombs; and brother Delbert McCombs. Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday May 11, 2024 at Silver Spring United Methodist Church, 8900 Georgia Avenue with reception to follow. Please no flowers; donations to Montgomery Hospice or the Bethesda Writer's Center greatly appreciated.