Judy, Judy, Judy, My Friend Judy

Using a line from the 1940's movie Only Angels have Wings, is the best way I know to describe the depth and complexity of Judy Stoker's personality. In that famous old movie, Cary Grant exclaimed, "Judy! Judy! Judy!" because ONE Judy was not enough to describe his female co-star, Rita Hayworth. Well, the same emphasis holds true today for my beloved friend and classmate Judy Stoker. It definitely takes three JUDYs because ONE Judy simply is not enough.

Judy #1 - the smart student. She made good grades and possibly was the teacher's pet in the elementary grades. She and her sister Lynda Lou always got off the bus together scrubbed clean, both with bows in their hair, lunches in hand, and their class assignments prepared the night before. It was evident that Judy had done her homework because she was well behaved and had the correct answer when the teacher called her name.
Those early years in the classroom and at recess, particularly in a small, country school like Garrison, tend to imprint students with character traits and memories that last a lifetime. The Judy I know today is still the same smart, little Judy Stoker who got off that bus well over one-half century ago.
Classmates Jo Ann Goodman, Jimmy Strong, Laverne Jones, Leon Manning, Curtis Herrington, Kenneth Boyette, Jean Sanders and I all recently visited with Judy at Memorial Hospital in Nacogdoches. Of course, we all conferred by phone and compared notes about how we though she was doing and what we thought her prognosis was. Our consensus was that she may be sick and possibly terminal, but she certainly still possessed all of her mental faculties. She knew every one of us and commanded the conversation telling us exactly the state of her health and the extent of her illness. Once we got through all of the hospital and illness dialogue, we reminisced and laughed together about what it was like to grow up in the glorious 1940's and 50's.

Judy #2 - the friend. Our friendship spans a period of more than sixty years with the most memorable years being those once-in-a-lifetime experiences we shared at Garrison High School. We studied together (a little), spent the night with each other as often as possible, played in the band together, swam in the creeks together, went to the State Theater together, double dated together and told each other our deepest darkest secrets. We even established a girls club named the GGG's. We wrote GGG's on our notebooks, exchanged notes in class signed the GGG's, talked about our exclusive GGG club at recess gloating to all who were not members, mostly the boys and even established a GGG sign language including all the letters of the alphabet. We could silently communicate from one side of the classroom to the other using our exclusive language. The boys were wild to know what GGG stood for and as far as I know, we never did tell them.
When I last saw Judy at Memorial Hospital in Nacogdoches, we reminisced about the GGG's and all the fun we had those many years ago. Just to check her memory I asked if she could still sign the GGG language. She sat straight up in bed with her eyes fully alert and together we signed all 26 characters. We laughed and laughed and for a moment we were fourteen years old filled with friendship and the security of our youth.

Judy #3 - the adult. Right on schedule, high school graduation, marriage, children, careers and responsibility separated us from our youth. Judy and her classmates kept in touch through the years by way of letters and Christmas messages and periodically we could visit at class reunions and homecomings. On such occasions, Judy would give us the details of her nursing career as well as the accomplishments of her sons Randall and Michael and her daughter Janet. Those occasions were always brief leaving a nagging feeling that there is never enough time to really communicate who we are today and exactly what is in our hearts that we want to share with our friends.

In preparation for this brief account of my dear friend Judy Stoker, I contacted several of our classmates to gather a thought or phrase that would pin point exactly who she is. They listed traits like smart, live wire, funny, serious, ambitious, responsible, generous, a true friend, and a proud mother.
So, I'm back to my opening remark and just as perplexed as Cary Grant was as he described his co-star, Rita Hayworth. It takes an exclamation like JUDY! JUDY! JUDY! to describe my dear friend, because ONE JUDY simply is NOT enough.