Judith Margaret (Nana) Hedberg (Duff)

Judy was born on July 11, 1941, in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, to her parents Alexander and Pamela Duff. She grew up in the Duff family home at 79 Wolseley in Montreal West and attended Elizabeth Ballantyne Elementary School and Montreal West High School. Judy spent her weekends and summers in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Québec, at the family cottage with the extended Duff family. She studied nursing at Montreal General Hospital and McGill University from 1958 and 1962, where she met her sweetheart, Roy Hedberg, while he was stationed in the Airforce in St. Hubert, Québec.

Judy and Roy were married on September 19, 1964, at the Montreal West Presbyterian Church. While living and working in Montreal, their sons Stephen (1968) and Michael (1969) were born. Roy worked for IBM and company transfers took the family from Montreal to Ottawa to Montreal to Toronto, culminating in a final move across the country to Vancouver in 1978. Upon arriving out west, they moved into the house that became the Hedberg Family Home and venue for Judy’s acclaimed dinner parties and outstanding garden for the next 47 years.

In Vancouver, Judy started work for Burnaby Home Care as a home care nurse and hospital liaison, a role she performed for 23 years before she retired in 2001. Judy was a natural caregiver and was very generous with her time. Many friends and family, old and young, through good times and bad, regularly benefitted from the peace, love, and healing energies that she held so gracefully and offered so readily.

Judy and Roy loved to travel, and they had many memorable camping trips with the family throughout Canada and the USA, in addition to trips to Mexico, the Caribbean, UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Central and South America, and Asia. Judy also loved her family time in Whistler, where she and Roy spent winter weekends and Christmas holidays for more than 25 years. Roy passed away in 2022, but the life they built together, full of shared experiences and traditions, remained a lasting source of comfort and pride for Judy.

As a mother, Judy served as a great role model for Stephen and Michael. She supported them in their outdoor adventures, encouraging them to take on life’s biggest challenges and to get out of their comfort zones—even if this meant she was placed way outside of her own, too. When her sons entered their awkward teenage years, she befriended families with younger kids that were a joy to be around, and when her own grandkids were “slow to come” (in her not-so-humble opinion), she sought out other surrogate grandchildren to fill the void. This pattern repeated itself even after her own grandkids became teenagers and then adults. Yet, her role of “Nana” was one she held proudly. She was actively involved in the fast-paced lives of her four grandchildren who put the biggest smiles on her face, as if every child she cared for before had prepared her heart to love her own grandchildren even more deeply.

Judy knew a lot about good food, and she hosted countless family dinners at her big dining room table with unwavering attention to detail. She knew what excellence looked and felt like, whether in a perfectly executed meal or an unforgettable dining experience. Her appreciation for good restaurants rubbed off on her sons and those around her, and she always seemed to know the best, nouveau spot for the next “Dinner with Nana” before the masses.

But her real gift was bringing people together. Her circle included longtime friends from university, cities her family had lived in, travel and work groups, and even new friends she met in Zoom yoga classes during the pandemic. And when she faced multiple heart surgeries over the past two years, it was no surprise that she asked her boys to send updates to more than 100 friends and family members, a lifetime’s worth of cherished connections of an extraordinary woman.

Judy is survived by her two sons Stephen and Michael, their spouses Lauren Anonby and Heather Hedberg (Friesen), her four grandchildren Emelia, Grace, Matthew, and Alison, plus many extended family members and close friends.

The family wishes to thank the skilled cardiac surgeons at Vancouver General Hospital and the compassionate caregivers from Caring Shepherd for managing Judy’s heart surgeries and treatments in the hospital and making things easier upon returning to her home where she always wished she could stay in right to the end, where she closed her eyes for the last time, on her terms, with a smile on her face.

A celebration of Judy’s rich life will be held in August; please reach out to the family for details.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Covenant House, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, or Canadian Cancer Society, all regular benefactors of Judy’s and Roy’s generosity.