Judy Louise Bauer

Judy Louise Bauer (nee Fisher), by the design of the Almighty God, was born in Lutheran Hospital Ft. Wayne, Indiana on July 12, 1943, to Russell and Azeneth (nee Scott) Fisher. After her parents divorced, her mother married Melvin George Jennings, whom Judy called her father because she never really came to know or recalls her biological father. Judy was the third child of the family, preceded in birth by (soul mate) Shirley Fisher, Gloria Fisher, and followed by Yvonne Fisher, and later by brother Randall Jennings.She recalls living in Georgia a short time where father Melvin worked in a coal mine. From there they moved to Waynedale, Indiana, where Melvin built a small house and she attended school at Elmhurst, later Ft. Wayne South High School. Judy's life changed significantly when both sister Shirley suddenly died from surgery complications and also her beloved grandmother. This not only caused Judy severe grief, but also put her mother into an emotional turmoil causing her to become suicidal and having to be hospitalized numerous times. Feeling alone with no one to turn to, she dropped out of school, entered the work force, and was briefly married.By the grace of God, Judy survived those difficult teen years keeping herself busy working for Hutner's Paris (an elite women's clothing store) both as clerk and model. She also worked as a part-time waitress for the Huddle Restaurant, Howard Johnson's Restaurant, as a clerk at Haag Drug and later as a factory worker for General Electric Corporation. As God directed matters, unknown both to her and husband Mervyn, after work she and her lady colleagues would stop at the Huddle Restaurant adjacent to Haag Drug for coffee. This is also where Mervyn and his college friends gathered. Eventually, the two parties sat at one table having coffee together and occasionally French fries. In time Mervyn and Judy began to date and when Judy wrote up a "Lay-A-Way ticket on Mervyn for a million dollars," he fell in love with her.This relationship had its rough going and eventually they parted paths and Mervyn went on to Springfield Seminary in Illinois. However, after composing an inspirational poem and mailing it to her, she called, they reunited and planned to marry the following June. In that time, Judy on her own accord took Christian instructions at Holy Cross Lutheran. As the Holy Spirit guided and directed and filled her with the love of Christ, Judy was baptized and confirmed at Holy Cross Lutheran on February 20, 1966.In preparation for their marriage, Judy and Mervyn counseled with Pastor Rossow, Mervyn's dorm counselor at Ft. Wayne Senior College. Pastor Rossow counseled against their getting married because of the vast differences in family, ethnic and spiritual backgrounds. Did God see this marriage was meant and did He bless it? Judy and Mervyn by God's grace and blessing have been married going on sixty years.After their marriage they moved to Springfield, Illinois where Judy attended evening seminary classes for wives and worked at Bressemer's in the accounting office. Then they traveled to Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada for Mervyn's Vicarage year. There Judy worked part-time canning gifts at Sears during Christmas and also at a button factory to keep them from starving. This was a very trying year as was their ministry in Moab, Utah, where Judy not only was forced to work for them to survive, but where they encountered so many trials and negatives, that one might say they were tried by the fires of hell and emerged pure gold.Over the years, assisting Mervyn and the family, Judy sold Avon, worked at a gravel pit doing office work, baby-sat, worked for seven geologists as their secretary, worked as assistant manager at McDonalds, took care of the home, was active in church and especially in the Women's organization entitled LWML or Lutheran Women's Missionary League. Her home was repeatedly the gathering place for youth, young adult, and mixed Bible study groups, also young couples club gatherings. She endured drug and alcohol encounters as struggling members knocked on their doors in the middle of the night, also blizzards where she had no idea where Mervyn was or whether he was alright because he was serving at a congregation forty miles away and the phone was tied up with members calling to see if Mervyn was safe.Judy also was a good mother to their adopted sons, Michael and Aaron. They were raised and trained mostly by her because Mervyn was gone a great deal. She also accepted a sixteen-year-old that came from a broken home as a foster daughter. Judy was very direct and honest in dealing with others and because of her difficult teen years was able to connect with people of the congregations and also apart from the congregations leading many straying souls back to a renewed and strong relationship with God.Judy was able to conduct herself well, being of high intelligence. No one could outdo her in solving the clues to "Wheel Of Fortune". It was a sad day when she started losing her extraordinary memory and ability to do things. In her younger years she was able to do perfectly anything she set her mind to doing, like sewing suits for her men as she called Mervyn and her sons. She could figure out almost anything and was a wonderful decorator, learning in the last years of her life that her grandfather Scot had been an interior decorator owning his own business in Ft. Wayne. She was also frugal and a conservative shopper, well organized, saving the family several thousand dollars each year.It was said many times, "there was only one Judy, then God threw away the mold". Judy also made it known she did not wish people to grieve over her death, but rather to celebrate her death because through it she was going home to Jesus her Lord and Savior.Judy Louise (Fisher) Bauer is missed and her death is celebrated by:Husband: Mervyn (Pueblo West) Sons: Michael and Aaron (Denver) Sisters: Gloria Smith and Yvonne Sass (Ft. Wayne, IN.) Brother-in-law: Herbert and wife Lorraine (Wilton, CT.) Brother-in-law: Edmund (Rhinelander, WI.) Sisters-in-law: Gert Weaver and husband Bob (Cleveland, Ohio); Floris Beisel (Iowa Falls, IA.); Elizabeth Clark and husband Bruce (Fargo, ND) Extended Family: Many nephews, nieces, and friends The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.