JUDITH ANN STUTZ

STUTZ, JUDITH ANN Judith Stutz was a creative and inspiring woman. She loved her family, traveling, a good laugh, and a great piece of pie with vanilla ice cream. Though she died after a long struggle with cancer on Tuesday April 19th, she will live on in the hearts of the many people she touched in her sixty-four years of life. During her life she was, among many things, a nurse, an attorney for the developmentally disabled, a devoted friend, an amazing wife, and an incredible mother. If you knew Judith, you liked her. She was born in Middletown, Connecticut on October 2, 1946 to Maj. Edwin Culver Strickland, USAF, and Marie Dechon Strickland. Judith was the oldest of four children. After graduating from Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing, she pursued a dedicated career as a nurse which included working at Firestone Hospital in Liberia, West Africa. Judith later graduated from the University Of San Diego School Of Law and served as the first client rights advocate for the San Diego Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled. In 1980, she embarked on her most challenging and rewarding career as a mother and stepmother. In 1981 she gave birth to her son, Adam, and in 1984, to her daughter, Kathryn. She loved seeing the world and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Africa. She adored all things French, especially Provencal culture and design. She had a great appreciation for the arts and expressed her own creativity through many different media. Judith will be remembered for her kindness, compassion, and connection to those around her. She is survived by her loving husband, Sidney; her six children David, Sara, Michael, Eric, Adam, and Kathryn; her mother, Marie; her sister, Ellen, and brothers, Edwin and Justin; her granddaughters, Megan and Emily; and numerous cousins and friends. Though she will be greatly missed her memory will live on with those who loved her most. A Celebration of Life honoring Judith for family and friends will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at the UCSD Faculty Club, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA (facclub.ucsd.edu). In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Judith's honor are made to charitable organizations supporting women's causes, San Diego Hospice, or Home of Guiding Hands.