Judith Judy Marie Villines Powell

Our mom, Judy Powell was born Judith Marie Villines on March 31, 1947 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Larkin Francis and Eileen Victoria (Brasel) Villines. Our granddaddy always told us that she was a sweet girl with a quiet confidence and an innate love for all people. As a little girl, mom enjoyed being with her dad in his gardens and sewing with her mom. Her mom taught her to sew by making almost all of her clothes. We have such fun memories of going to the fabric store every September and picking out patterns and fabric for our Halloween costumes that she would then make from scratch. As a girl, mom also loved traveling with her big brother Marvin and his wife Marlene. She and her two nieces, Amy and Jan, were quite the globe trotters, going to far away places and making memories and adventures together. As a little girl, she took piano lessons and became an accomplished pianist. She grew up in Nogales Avenue Baptist Church and used her talent in music to minister to her church. Even as a child, mom found strength in her church family. After graduating from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, mom went to Oklahoma Baptist University, where she double majored in Music and Education, eventually going on to teach Head Start in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Mom was a huge college basketball fan. Through her love of basketball she met Clark Powell. Dad and Mom broke barriers that many didn’t have the courage or strength to break in the great racial tension of the 1960’s. They were married and together they moved to Kansas City to raise their family. Mom was a sensitive and deeply compassionate person and after briefly working with head start in Kansas City, she realized that the work was just too emotionally taxing and changed her career course by accepting a teller position at Jackson County Bank. It was then that she discovered her love for numbers and pursued a position in accounting with an up and coming company called J.E. Dunn Construction Company. In the meantime she had also started her family. In 1976 she had her first baby girl, Cicely. Then in 1981, she had her second baby girl, Rachel. Mom was what they call a “girl mommy”. She loved doing girly things with her girls like shopping, dressing us up in pretty girly clothes and doing our hair in matching bows. When we were little, Friday night was “Beauty Shop Night.” Mom would spend hours washing and combing our hair while she watched her two favorite shows, Dallas and Falcon Crest. In 1986, the three of us became an independent unit and mom instinctively accepted her new role. Mom always fought for normalcy in our life, she taught us that “Sometimes life doesn’t turn out like you expected it to but you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep on pluggin’.” Just as she did as a girl, she turned to her church home, Covenant Presbyterian. She once again shared her phenomenal gift of music and her belief in God to heal herself by sharing with others. She raised us to know that we could always look to our church home for friendship and support. In addition to her full time job, she got a job at the Jones Store and worked there to make sure that not only were our needs met but that she was able to give us special Christmases and birthdays and that back to school clothes shopping was a big event. At work she had been promoted and when J.E. Dunn got the contract to build the Sprint Campus, she was trusted with the huge job of managing the billing on the project. In the midst of raising two teenage girls and balancing a stressful career, mom was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS). In 1997, she was told that her prognosis gave her 3 years. But instead of giving up, mom continued to live by the philosophy that “Sometimes life doesn’t turn out like you expected it to but you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep on pluggin’.” And that’s what she did. She battled MDS for 13 years, amazing every Doctor she came in contact with. She fought to watch us graduate from high school and college, become nurses, get married and have her 4 “grandbabies”. She loved watching the babies play. She loved spoiling them. She loved spoiling us. She loved Christmas decorating. She loved cooking yummy food. She loved planting her flowers every May and spending time outside in the fresh air watering them. She loved making people feel important and loved. She loved leading by example and showing that hard work and honesty pays off. Mom’s greatest hope for us was that we would be strong, loving, kind, honest and hardworking women. We can only hope that we make the same impact on our children and the people around us that mom made. On April 13th, 2010, mom decided, on her terms, that her work here was complete. Never once throughout the 13 years did she complain or say she was tired of fighting. She waited until the very last day to let us know just how tired she really was. At 10:35pm, she passed away with her baby girls laying next to her, holding her hand, telling her how much we love her and thanking her for everything she had given to us and done for us. Telling her that we would be ok, that we know that “Sometimes life doesn’t turn out like you expected it to but you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep on pluggin’.” Mom knew that we were going to “keep on pluggin’”

Left to cherish her memory and legacy are her brother and sister-in-law, Marvin and Marlene Villines; two daughters, Cicely Enyard (Gordon); Rachel Whitfield (Mark); four grandchildren, Tatumn, Avery and Dreyton Enyard and Marley Whitfield; a mother-in-law, Mildred Powell; sister-in-law, Jackie Powell; five step sisters, Linda Norman, Clyta Coder, Millie (Ron) Bigler, Billie-Jean Froese and Carolyn West; six nieces, Amy (Steve) Soll, Jan (Paul) Charbonneau, Valerie (Doug) Fisher, Ruth (Tony) Garcia, Jeanne Coder and Jennifer Bigler; two nephews, Dereck (Beth) Norman and Jeff (Jennifer) Bigler, two great-nieces Star and Mele Charbonneau and two great-nephews Adrian (Rose) and Eammon Soll. Other immediate family includes Faye Champion, the Gunter family, Clark Powell Sr,, Paulette Powell, Clark Powell II and Gary and Elayne Enyard. Mom considered many friends her family as well, those include her co-workers at JE Dunn Construction Co., Linda Gipson, the family of Ozelle Johnson, Jim Smith, Dr. Sharon Snavely, Dr. Richard Mckittrick and the many nurses who cared for her at St. Joseph Medical Center and Kansas City Cancer Centers.

Mom was greeted in heaven by her parents, Larkin F. and Eileen V. Villines, her step-mother, Mildred Villines and her friends Mike, Lenora and Judy.

We would also like to thank Pastor Darron Edwards and United Believers Community Chruch, Pastor Rusty Maggard and Red Bridge United Methodist Church, JE Dunn Construction Company for all of their help, love and support during this time. It means more to us than words can ever express. Also thank you to Dr. Timothy Blackburn, his Nurse Practitioner Jenelle and everyone at Kansas City Heart Group for taking such wonderful care of mom. Although she had not been their patient for long, they treated her as if she had been coming there forever.

Visitation will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 18, at Mt. Moriah and Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri. Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, April 19 at the funeral home. Online condolences may be made at www.mtmoriah-freeman.com.Arrangements under the direction of Mount Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, Kansas City, MO.