Judith Gale Wright

1943 - 2020

Beloved professor and animal advocate

Judy Wright died on March 8 at The Forum at Brookside in Louisville, KY, of cancer. She was born in Schenectady, NY on February 15, 1943 to John D. Wright and Elise Upton Wright and moved to Louisville with her family when she was ten. She graduated from Atherton High School there and from DePauw University; and earned master's and doctoral degrees in comparative literature at Indiana University. She held a variety of jobs along the way-waitress, clerk at a French bank, assistant librarian in a rare books library, college instructor-and in 1973 settled down at Sonoma State University in California, where she rose from assistant professor to professor and served for several years as chair of the English Department. Then known by a married name, Judith Hess, she pioneered courses in film studies and women's studies and in 1974 was one of the founders of the journal, Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, still being published on line. When, in a state budget crisis, the university began to lay off tenured faculty in the humanities, she transferred to the Sonoma State University School of Business. In a survey of alumni, her business communications course was ranked as the most valuable one they had taken.

Judy was an excellent cook who loved to feed and entertain people. She also loved to feed and entertain animals, and in retirement she was very active in two programs for them. She captured feral cats, got them spayed/neutered, and used her 3.5 acres of land as a sanctuary. And she fostered and socialized dogs with behavioral problems to prepare them for adoption.

She enthusiastically explored the world: her travels took her to Europe, Egypt, Turkey, Central and South America, Thailand, Indonesia and other places. She spent several years living on St. Thomas, USVI, and in the Charleston, NC area before moving to The Forum in 2012.

Judy had a beautiful soprano voice. A member of the St. Paul Motet singers in high school, she occasionally performed folk songs in coffee houses in her early twenties and held season tickets at the Venice opera house when she lived in Italy in her middle twenties. Music was an abiding pleasure.

She was predeceased by her parents and a brother, J. David Wright III. She is survived and missed by many loving friends, old and new. Contributions in her memory to Petaluma Pet Pals (www.PetalumaPetPals.org , 2200 Petaluma Blvd., Petaluma, CA 94952) , which she helped found, or the Adoptable Dog Program of the Kentucky Humane Society (www.kyhumane.org, 1000 Lyndon Lane, Louisville, KY 40222), would be appreciated. More information and a guestbook are available at www.tributes.com (Judith Wright, KY).