Judith Marie Albrecht Barnes

My, oh my what a life it has been! Judith (Judy) Albrecht Barnes completed the last leg of her earthly journey on September 13, 2026. She was 79 and resided in Jennersville, PA. There was nothing extraordinary about her life…it was an ordinary life filled with love, laughter, and happiness with some bumps and sadness along the way but it was a life lived in joy. The eldest of Marge and Jay Albrecht’s five children. She is survived by her sister, Sandy, and brother, Jay. The Albrecht Five were a force to be reckoned with swarming all over the Nursery and Flower shop in Narberth, terrorizing all the neighbors on Maplewood Avenue and having the very best childhood imaginable.

Judy found her lifelong best friend, Susan (on the Paoli Local) traveling to Pierce Junior College. They crammed a lifetime of living and wild and crazy adventures in the 4 years before they both wed. Best not to disclose details…there may still be open warrants around.

She left home and began her adult life when she married Robert Brookmyre (Brook) Barnes in October 1969. She and Brook spent the next 30 years living in Massachusetts, Colorado and Massachusetts again. Years spent enjoying the beauty of New England, vacationing with best friends Susan and Howard Conrad, traveling to Germany and Austria…so many wonderful and fun adventures.

Judy’s working career was divided into two parts…the first working for two computer giants…Burroughs Corp and The Digital Equipment Corp first in secretarial positions and later as a financial analyst. The second part of her working life was spent with yarn and needlework, her passions. It was fun knitting and stitching models for the stores, teaching beginner classes and just spreading the sense of accomplishment of things made by hand.

Although Judy had no human children she was the very proud Mother of eight fur babies…seven kitties and one “best dog in the world”. Wacker, Duffy and Meg, Jesse James, the wonder Shepherd (a gift from dear friends, Susan and Howard) and her Ragdolls, Murphy and Tucker, and Deacon Blue and Dixie Belle. They will all be impatiently waiting for her at the Rainbow Bridge.

As the years went by retirement became an actuality instead of something in the distant future and Brook and Judy decided to move home to Pennsylvania to be with family. There was a new house to be built, another house to be sold and packed up, dear friends to tearfully leave and lots of new adventures to begin which included having a pontoon boat, “The Looney Toon” and RV on the Susquehanna River, day trips to revisit forgotten parts of Pennsylvania and falling in love with their new kittens. Life was good until Jay Albrecht needed heart surgery and passed away in February 2007 and Bonnie Albrecht, Jay’s wife, in October of the same year.

Nothing prepares you for the loss of a husband of 42 years and Judy was certainly not prepared when Brook suddenly died in November of 2011. Over time and with the love and support of family and friends life, though never the same, was once again filled with family, celebrations, and good times. Family losses continued with brother-in-law Tom Tryon’s passing in 2015, her mother, Marge Albrecht, in 2019, her sister, Marlene Hess, in 2021, her brother, Bruce, in 2025, and dear friend Howard Conrad in 2026. With each loss the family drew closer together.

Sometimes when you least expect it love once again walks into your life and for Judy that love was Billy Schwartz…Philly lawyer and Downingtown nurseryman farmer, storyteller and lover. There were dinners with Marlene and Jay who introduced them, weekends in Cape May, trips to New Hampshire (Billy’s happy place), and a whole new world of late in life happiness.

Survivors include Billy Schwartz, sister and friend Sandy Tryon, brother Jay and his wife Val friend and sister. Her sister from another mother Susan Conrad and dear, dear friend Jeanne Douglass. Seven nieces and nephews Jeffrey and Sherry Tryon, Todd and Cheryl Tryon, Miranda and Chris Kaminski, Sarah and Stephen Carreon and sons Damien and Odin, Jake and Sandra Albrecht and Bri, Serena and Liam and Justin and Jessica Kane and Kieran and Mackenna and Sheena Thompson and Scott Gannon and J.J. Thompson and Stella Gannon.

The family would also like to thank the devoted team at Chester County Memorial West Wing 2 for their wonderful care of Judy during her last illness.’