About Judith

Judy was born on the 26th May 1940 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia and was the eldest of nine children.

She attended school in Townsville and was married with two children by the time she was 18 years old.

The early years in Townsville were difficult for Judy and she later moved to Mount Isa to start a new life with her two children Murray and Neil.

She worked hard all her life and one of Judy's first jobs in Mount Isa was as a taxi call operator where she meet Bruno who drove a taxi.

The family lived in a number of places in Mount Isa and finally settled at Kennedy Street, Soldiers Hill.

Bruno and Judy married in Mount Isa and had a daughter Angela.

With Bruno being Italian, Judy embraced the Italian way of life and taught herself to cook and speak Italian. Many times Bruno, Murray and Neil would go shooting for turkeys and pigeons for Judy to put into her famous spaghetti sauce.

While Judy was in Mount Isa other family members from Townsville would come to visit.

Eventually Judy's Dad (Pop) decided to leave Townsville and bring the rest of the family to Mount Isa. A few years after the move the family business, an electrical appliance store, was started in a small shop in Miles Street, Mt Isa. Judy would spend her time working at the shop and raising her children.

There was no time for family holidays but she worked hard to spoil her children at Christmas. Christmas was a very important time of the year for her and she always looked forward to it.

Judy always wanted her children to achieve the best they could in life and would make sure that they had every opportunity possible. She always put herself last and never wanted or needed anything. Judy was very independent and sometimes could be stubborn. On many occasions, if she made up her mind on an issue there was no way anyone could change it.

Judy was always on time and heaven help you if you were late - you would not hear the end of it.

She loved her rugby league (football) and was very passionate about how her team was performing.

When her two eldest children started their apprenticeship she began travelling and seeing the rest of the world with her mother and other family members. She loved shopping while overseas and would often purchase Christmas gifts for her children and grandchildren. On many occasions family members had to give Judy a cardboard cut out of their foot so she could buy the correct shoes for them.

In 1983 when Angela was in primary school, Judy decided to leave Mount Isa and move to Brisbane where Neil was already living. Judy began working at Big W at Stafford City. Later on her brother Ian bought an electrical store in Redcliffe and Judy managed the store.

Over time more family members moved from Mt Isa to Brisbane. When Ian's family built their house nearby she happily moved in with them in a self contained house on the side of the main house.

Judy loved her grandchildren and they were the centre of her life. She was very proud of them all. In her retirement she became interested in roller skating and watching her grandchildren compete. Sometimes she could be quite blunt with her comments and would offer tips to the grandchildren on how they could improve. They would often refer to her as "little coach". A roller skating award has been dedicated in her honour.

Judy was not afraid of technology - she was often on her computer, tablet and smart phone.

We lost Judy and her brother Ian on Tuesday 14th May 2013. She will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her and whose life she touched.

Judy's memory will live on.