Judith Ann Schiebout

1946 - 2020

Judith Ann Schiebout was born on October 16, 1946, in Tampa, FL, to Joseph and Helen Mae (Castenholz) Schiebout. Her father was a career Air Force officer, thus the family moved often. Family lore has it that the family had to move whenever Judith had read all the books in the local library. Judith earned a BA, MA & PhD (1973) from the University of Texas at Austin. Judith's vertebrate paleontology doctoral studies were centered in Big Bend National Park, TX. Her most recent research interest involved fossil mammals from the Miocene period of LA. Judith joined the LSU Dept of Geology & Geophysics in August of 1976 and rose to the rank of Associate Professor in 1979. She became director of the LSU Museum of Geoscience that year and later an Associate Curator in the LSU Museum of Natural Science. She retired from LSU in 2016. Judith was a prolific researcher and published 100+ journal articles, reports, and book chapters, either as sole author or in collaboration with colleagues and her graduate students. Judith's students were dear to her, and she often offered wise advice and career guidance to them. She chaired 15 Master or PhD graduate committees for her students. Retirement did not mean a halt to her research as she was actively advising an LSU undergraduate researcher at the time of her death. Her teaching won national and regional recognition: 2001 Assoc. for Women Geoscientists & 2002 Gulf Coast Assoc. of Geological Societies Outstanding Educator awards. She was an active and enthusiastic member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Sigma XI Chapter. Frontiers did not deter Judith. She earned a PhD in geology when few women were in the field. She invited Suyin Ting, a vertebrate paleontologist from China, to study at LSU in 1980. In 1983, she was among US scientists who traveled to China and toured important vertebrate fossil sites from Inner Mongolia to the Gongdong Province. This began a 40-year long collaboration between Judith and Suyin Ting. Judith was known for her intelligence, keen wit, tenacity, generosity and kindness. Many of her graduate students have said that they often considered her a 'mom' and that she would never hesitate to dispense advice or fly to their defense should the need arise. She enjoyed lunches with friends and students, beautiful plants and flowers, and conversations over the phone. She especially loved her constant companions, Loki & Cassia, her cats. Judith entered the hospital with breathing problems not related to COVID-19 on July 29, 2020. She was discharged to a rehab facility where she later contracted COVID-19 in August, 2020. While she recovered from the initial infection, she died of complications from on September 24, 2020. She is beloved by many. She will be remembered and greatly missed.