Judith Ann Vogel Haubrich Wheelock

Judith was born to Lucille B. Vogel and Howard Vogel in Toledo Ohio on September 25th, 1935. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a BFA and then again from the University of Dallas for her MFA.

Judith met her first husband, Robert A. Haubrich, at the University of Illinois. They were married in 1958. They were a powerhouse couple in the Chicago area Democratic Party. She had 3 children: Kirah, John, and Josef, with Robert. They lived in Waukegan, Illinois. She divorced Robert in 1975 and moved to Texas with her brood.

In Texas, during her work at Texas Instruments, she finally met the man of her dreams, Joseph T. Wheelock. Married in 1990, Joe and Judith’s love sustained them, and everyone they met, until he parted this life in 2008.

Judith was a force of nature, a multi-faceted and talented human being who passionately stood up for the best of humanity at every turn. With her BFA behind her, Judith began teaching art at Jack Benny High School in Waukegan. Here she spread her enthusiasm for the humanities to young and old, inspiring many an artist to seek out careers in the arts. After leaving the classroom, Judith then launched herself into the interior design field at a time when women were scarce in the workforce. Her work with NOSCO brought her into the professional arena all while being an excellent mother of three “house-apes”, as she called them. This job, eventually, helped her cope with the difficulties of divorce.

In 1970 Judith found Re-Evaluation Co-Counseling. “RC” helped her navigate the emotions and responsibilities of being a working, single mother of three. She became so proficient at RC, she became a teacher of the practice and began giving classes at her house on Hull Ct., Waukegan. By the time she moved to Texas, Judith had become a leader in the RC Community. RC continued to be extremely important throughout the rest of Judith’s life. It is how she raised her children and through it, has helped a huge number of people, personally and professionally, work through their patterns and traumas to get to present-time thinking and problem solving. Judith was a huge proponent of elegant solutions in life.

Upon moving to Texas in 1975, Judith began to work for the Dallas Independent School District. Her area of expertise was to teach teachers how to teach. Her counseling work, along with her previous teaching experience gave Judith the unique perspective and insight to help teachers get the best out themselves, their students, and their administrations. She was a consummate communicator. It is her focus on caring and communication that marked her career at the D.I.S.D. It is during this time she also completed her MFA at the University of Dallas.

After leaving a long tenure at the Dallas School District, Judith embarked upon yet another career, in human resources. She was head of HR at the Forest Lane Branch of Texas Instruments for over a decade. It was here she met and fell in love with Joe Wheelock. Building on all her experience, Judith was able to create a positive, pro-active, and productive work environment. She began by bringing awareness to the importance and necessity of diversity within the workplace. She broke down social, gender, and economic barriers by creating programs though which all levels of workforce interacted and learned from each other. Judith emphasized how crucial the importance a healthy work environment, for both labor and management, was to a successful bottom line. She also knew that work is intrinsic to the well-being of a human. To work in an environment that appreciates and encourages workers is the ultimate goal of a successful business and community.

When she retired from T.I., Judith, along with her dear friend Thomas Hickey, created JHW & Associates, a consulting firm for diversity, conflict-resolution training, and communication improvement for C.E.O.s of national and international corporations. They traveled all over the nation to bring understanding and awareness into corporate culture at the highest level, knowing full well that most work culture usually reflects upper management’s behavior.

Judith ALWAYS stood for equality, kindness, communication, and seeing the divine in everyone she met. At the age of 6 she was punished by her grandparents for calling out their racism when they found out their neighbors would be of a different culture. She continued to call out racism, sexism, classism, and ageism throughout her 87 years. She taught her children this ethos, she taught the teachers this ethos, she taught the engineers this ethos, the CEO’s this ethos and even went on Dallas area news to discuss these “-isms” that effect all of us; that they exist, and we all need to work to clean it up!

Family and friends were the most important to Judith. She always had time to help anyone in need or distress. She “adopted” many people, young and old, into her family. If Judith loved you, you knew it. She would stop strangers in the street to tell them what a beautiful face they had. Her love of life was entirely infectious. Always being told she was “too much”, Judith thankfully ignored that directive and never diminished her delight with life and people. She was a powerhouse of a woman. Her love wasn’t just relegated to humans. Her love of animals was deep and profound. Several cats and dogs were a joyous part of Judith’s life. She was an avid supporter of the SPCA.

In her second retirement, she and Joe continued to educate and help everyone in their sphere. Judith has worked extensively with the McNeil Education Foundation and other local non-profits doing good work for the community. Offering business planning services and grant writing skills, Judith constantly made sure those who were working towards a greater humanitarian goal had access to her extensive knowledge of “how to get stuff done”.

She was physically stunning. She was mentally brilliant. She was emotionally generous. Her laughter was loud and boisterous. At 5’8”, her stature combined with her bright light and deep passion made Judith an imposing figure at times. Often referred to as “The General”, Judith was indeed a leader of life, love, grace, gratitude, and, overall, the awareness and importance that we each are here on this planet to make it better.

Judith is survived by: Kirah Haubrich, John Haubrich, and Josef Haubrich… her Children; Gavin Haubrich and Damien Hoffert… her Grandsons; Annie Turner, Tom Hickey, Larry Sanders, Yolanda Wilder, Marissa Brock, Norma Smith, Kathy Irvine, Arlene Walsh, Jesse McNeil, Glenn Gissler, Charlotte Watson, Linda Henderson, and many, many more included in her extensive “Framily”.

Her memorial website is: In Celebration of Judith H. Wheelock https://www.inmemori.com/jwheelock-u79pf?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=35&utm_content=1238

Please visit this website for pictures, memories, and testimonials.

She will be interred in a private ceremony with her husband Joseph T. Wheelock in the National Cemetery, Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX.

Her Celebration of Life Event will happen in her home, sometime in the autumn of 2023.

Check the website for up-to-date information.