We are lucky enough to have Judy Vaughan as our Senior of the Month for October! She started the interview by stating that she is the wackiest woman around and further, she said, “I do it on purpose!” She is funny! Last winter, we had an issue with our heater and it was cold in the Center. Judy said, “If it doesn’t warm up in here, I’m going to have to go out on the street and find a MAN!”
Judy was born in Crescent City, CA, in 1938. She is number three in a family with four children. She has two brothers and one sister who is 13 years Judy’s senior. Judy was often “stuck” watching her younger brother. She says he would eat or drink anything sweet so she would give him something made with the bark of the local cascara tree, long used as a laxative, and “it would keep him in the house for a couple of days and I could have some time to myself!” 🙂
Judy tells me that her cousins and siblings are quiet but Judy has one weakness, she never shuts up! All her siblings are gone. Judy is the ‘last leaf on the tree.” Judy lost her parents when she was 10 years old. Her Dad was a heavy smoker and had a heart attack. Her mother died shortly after from what the Doctors called leukemia but Judy thinks she died of a broken heart! Judy was very close to her Dad and she said she threatened her kids with “great bodily harm” if they ever tried smoking. None did! Judy has 2 sons and one grandson.
Judy has worked as a mail carrier in Josephine County for four years and she took care of children in Klamath Falls. For a time, she took care of a cabin in the Yukon. The cabin was on a lake and when it got to thirty degrees below zero she would have to break up the ice on the lake to get the days water! She said the most interesting thing that happened to her was on the Yukon highway once. They often saw bears in their travels and once she said, she saw 6 bears! “5 on 4 legs and 1on two legs in a blue uniform! The ticket cost $140!”
Judy’shusband did a short stitch in the Navy and both her sons have served. The younger son was in the Army for 4 years and her eldest son served 8years in the Navy, much of it on a submarine.
Judy’s biggest obstacle was related to her health. She had double pneumonia when she was 18 months old and it resulted in asthma! She said the asthma just went away three years ago. She remembers her Dad sitting up with her to get her through the pneumonia. He had a wide rocking chair and he would rock her for hours. Her Dad was small but mighty. He was a featherweight boxer but gave it up. She spent lots of her youth “fighting for breath” and she feels like “living to be 79” is her greatest accomplishment. Judy also is an accomplished cook and loves to travel. She would like to see Yellowstone Parl<.
The best advice Judy has for a young person is to stay in school but follow your heart. She was a complete tomboy as a kid and wanted to be an Indian. She would read about the Indians and try to be just like them including cooking over a fire, hence her love of cooking. She says she “was just as wild as any Indian ever invented!” The worst mishap that ever happened was when she was living with her sister. They had joined the Mormon Church and brought some “high mucky mucks” home for dinner expecting Judy to prepare it. They had left her a pork liver to cook for dinner. Only problem was she didn’t know how so she just threw it in a pot and boiled it up! Imagine what she presented to the group, a platter with a whole chuck of unidentifiable something that looked like … Well, I can’t imagine!
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