Judy Anne Perry

Judy was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1951 to Robert and Shirley Lavery. When she was 9, the family moved to Maryland where she attended Catholic school through ninth grade and graduated from DuVal High School in 1970.

Judy and Michael (Mike) Perry attended the same high school, however, it was during their senior year that Seabrook Pharmacy brought them together. Judy worked the front counter and pharmacy and Mike was the store’s everything boy, handling inventory, deliveries, the register, the shelves and the mop. Fondly, they have always joked that the first words they remember being spoken between them were of Judy telling Mike, who was mopping the pharmacy floor, was that he missed a spot. They married on September 14, 1974, at the University of Maryland’s Memorial Chapel.

After a year at the University of Maryland, Judy took out a large loan to learn shorthand and typing at Temple Business School. She never used the shorthand, but the typing carried her for decades. She spent three months in Utah working seven days a week, then returned to Washington to work at the Library of Congress and, for about ten months, for Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, the former US Vice-President.

In August 1976, Judy and Mike moved to Colorado with very few funds, no jobs and one car, which means they moved with more youthful optimism than sense. It was a risk they never regretted. Judy worked as a temp initially in Colorado before joining the US Forest Service and Mike worked in accounting.

Following the birth of their only child, Alisha, Judy started working from home and typed theses and dissertations for Colorado State University students. During this time, she was one of the early adopters of a home computer, purchasing and using word processors for the typing business in the early 1980s. The students, many of whom did not have English as their first language, benefitted from her strength in English and she often copy edited their work for them. In 1986 she returned to the Forest Service, working in Grants & Agreements and as a Project Secretary for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. She retired on September 30, 2007, after 27 years of federal service, due to health issues.

While working and raising a family, Judy went back to college and earned a earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from CSU in 1992. She excelled as a non-traditional student and was unafraid of standing out.

Those who knew Judy knew she was a serial hobbyist. Hobbies were the one area that her natural frugalness was tampered. Her yarn collection grew so large it earned its own room. She bought a van and a full set of camping gear, and then never went camping. Tales are still being told of the cross-stitching phase where she bought every DNC thread color produced. She canned enough food to see the family through doomsday, which thankfully did not arrive in her lifetime, so nobody ever had to find out if it was edible. In more recent years, she became an avid mahjong player, both in person and online, and she loved to teach others to play.

Judy had many friend groups that played a vital role in her life. Whether it was the Stitch and Bitchers, TasteBuds, the Leghorn Ladies, her Alumni lunch friends, Book Club or the Mahjong groups, she brought people together for years of laughter and support.

More than anything, Judy is remembered for her sense of humour. She would always rather laugh than cry and that determination took her through many health challenges. These last few weeks, visitors, after saying she was funny, described Judy as loyal, stubborn, unpretentious and always a great friend.

The family would like to call attention to the value of organ donation. Judy received a kidney transplant in 2009 and this allowed her to avoid dialysis and watch her grandsons attain adulthood. We always remember the donor family and their gift of life, nicknamed Sidney the Kidney, and are thankful for the 17 years of health that they gave Judy and her family.

Judy is survived by her husband of 52 years, Michael Allen Perry; her daughter, Alisha (Colin) Graham; her grandsons, Tyler and Dawson Graham; her brother, Phil Lavery; and two nieces and a nephew and her many friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Shirley Lavery, and her brother, Patrick Lavery.

A Celebration of Life will take place at Allnutt Funeral Home, 650 W. Drake Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526 on Saturday, November 7 from 11am-2pm. Donations may be made to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation.