Richard Judy Obituary

Richard W. Judy, (96) passed away December 8, 2024.
Richard William Judy was born Aug. 14, 1928, at Champaign, IL, son of Theodore R. and Mabel Francis (Faue) Judy. He spent his early years in his hometown, attending grammar and high school there. Bitten early by the travel bug, he traveled alone to Mexico in 1945 to visit a Spanish-class pen pal.
During his late teens, Mr. Judy spent the summers as a fire lookout on Elk Butte in northern Idaho and as woodsman and fire fighter with the Potlatch Timber Protective Association, based in Elk River, ID.
He attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, graduating in January 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from the School of Journalism and Communications, working part-time on the university's daily newspaper and also in the university's central library. In keeping with his conservation experience and love of things natural, he was proud of a Daily Illini newspaper series on the dangers of phloem necrosis, a deadly elm tree disease. Although many elm trees graced the campus quadrangle, his series failed to evoke a "save-the-trees" movement in their behalf.
He was married on Jan. 28, 1951, to the former Joanne Margaret Terry, also of Champaign. (The two had exchanged valentines since their first meeting in the third grade at Dr. Howard School.) The couple made their home at first in Bloomington, IL where Mrs. Judy taught in an elementary school and Mr. Judy, though having a draft status of 1-A, found employment with a sympathetic State Farm Insurance Company.
In April 1951, with the Korean "police action" in progress, Mr. Judy enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, leaving Bloomington soon afterward for Parris Island, SC, to participate in the Marine Corps' first officer candidate course since World War II. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on June 29, 1951. Following basic officer training at Quantico, VA., Lt. Judy was posted to Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, CA. During that time, Lt. and Mrs. Judy resided in San Clemente, CA., enjoying a quasi- civilian, off-base, southern California evening existence. On April 5, 1952, this changed when the Marine Corps' Third Replacement Draft sailed from San Diego on the S.S. General Pope.
Landing at Inchon, South Korea, in April, 1952, Lt. Judy, though having an infantry MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), served briefly in the First Division communications center, then, with ANGLICO (Air, Naval Gunfire Liaison Company) as an artillery forward observer within sight of the Panmunjom barrage balloons, finally commanding a Marine communications section on the Korean western front until rotated home to the United States at the end of 1952. He was discharged from active duty with the Marines in San Francisco. He remembered his experiences in the Korean War as "edifying, stimulating and enough." He later served as operations officer with a Kansas City, MO, Marine reserve unit, reaching the rank of captain.
Mr. Judy's first post-graduation civilian position was as city and news editor for The Times Record in Aledo, IL., the county seat of Mercer County, the "Aberdeenshire of America and the Hog Capital of the World." After two years as a country newspaper reporter, photographer and editor, Mr. Judy on Jan. 5, 1955, began his career with Ford Motor Company as editor of the employee newspaper at the St. Louis Assembly Plant, Hazelwood, MO, then building the 1955 Mercury.
Having moved to St. Ann, MO, Mr. and Mrs. Judy moved again in mid-1955 to Kansas City, where Mr. Judy had been transferred as the assistant in Ford's Missouri Valley regional public relations office. Less than two years later, he was transferred to the Detroit area to join the Special Products Division, soon to become the Edsel Division. "Because of the enormous curiosity about Ford's first new car since the Mercury in 1939, publicizing the Edsel was one of most fun jobs in my career," Mr. Judy later told his family.
When the Edsel neared the end of its brief run, Mr. Judy joined the Ford Division and in 1959 moved to Los Angeles to head the company's public relations office there. Much of his work in southern California was in product publicity and promotion, but he was detached from public relations for two months to work with an automotive and aerospace team developing a major Ford proposal to build the Saturn S1 rocket booster. (Chrysler received the government contract.)
Returning to Ford's Dearborn, MI, headquarters in 1962, he wrote executive speeches and held managerial positions in the corporate news department, the new Customer Service Division, Ford Division, and as public relations director for Diversified Products Operations and finally as director of External Communications, Public Affairs Staff, He retired on August 31, 1990, after almost 36 years with Ford.
Mr. Judy was an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and past president of the Detroit Chapter. Public relations programs for which he was responsible or in which he was closely involved included Ford Customer Service Division's consumer communications and Ford Division's Ford Falcon introduction, both winners of the prestigious PRSA Silver Anvil Award.
During his retirement years, Mr. Judy took an active role in his daughter's travel agency, DeFoe Travel Service of Bloomfield Hills. He and Mrs. Judy traveled extensively, leading groups to Europe and Asia. As a delegate to the American Society of Travel Agents' World Congress in Cairo, Egypt, in 1992, Mr. Judy won top honors in the international World Explorer Contest, a world geography and culture-knowledge contest patterned after "Jeopardy."
Far from being idle in retirement, Mr. Judy also has served as deacon and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, and has been a volunteer on various committees and in the direction of Skyline Camp and Conference Center, Almont, MI. He served as the first president and chaired the board of directors of the newly incorporated Skyline Camp and Retreat Center starting in February 2005.
Since 1983, Mr. Judy has assisted Mrs. Judy in her leadership of the southeast Michigan support group for the national Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation (BEBRF). While attending the annual national conferences of the BEBRF, Mr. Judy continued his volunteer work by writing and copyreading the conference reports for publication in the Foundation's international newsletter.
A Boy Scout in his youth, Mr. Judy resumed his interest in Scouting as an adult, serving 15 years in various leadership positions, including that of assistant scoutmaster of Birmingham's Troop 1035. He also is a member of the Senior Men's Club of Birmingham and in 2005 was co-editor of articles for the club's book of individual member experiences in World War II and the Korean War.
Our beloved father was preceded in death by his wife Joanne, his true love and soulmate of 57 years. He leaves behind a loving friend and companion Sandra Karam. He was a caring father to daughter Laura Dimmitt (Fiancé Chuck Voelker) and two sons Bill Judy (Sue) and Ben Judy (Nancy). Dick cherished his five grandsons Matthew, Scott, Ryan, Michael and Eric along with six wonderful great-grandchildren Gray, Mary Jo, Henry, Callahan, Norah and Rowan.
A Memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2025, 11AM, at First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, 1669 W. Maple Rd., Birmingham. Family will receive friends one hour prior.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Dick's name to Skyline Camp Retreat Center, Almont MI. https://skyline.campbraingiving.com