Judy Jaaskelainen Born in Utah, 1945 My stepmother, Judy Jaaskelainen, was raised in a Mormon household in rural Utah. During her childhood, she shuffled around several small towns throughout Utah and California. Her family, however, did not fit neatly into the Mormon mold. Her path diverged from those of her classmates when, at the young age of 15, Judy found herself pregnant; she married soon, thereafter. By age 17, she had given birth to three children: a son and two daughters. After an adolescence and early adulthood riddled with strife, poverty and constant movement, Judy miraculously raised three incredibly loving and balanced children. Now, at 64 years, she is the grandmother of three adult grandchildren and eager to be a great grandmother. Judy was stricken with fibromyalgia in 1996, cutting short her hard-earned career as an occupational therapist working with mentally and physically challenged kids. Forced into early retirement, Judy turned hardship into opportunity, pouring herself into creating art. Since then, she has dramatically expanded her artistic repertoire and made a name for herself as a well-respected local artist in the Verde Valley area of Arizona. She has permanent installations in two local galleries and shows her work at art exhibits several times a year. If asked what was the most important thing in her life, Judy would undoubtedly answer family. She cherishes her family and goes to great efforts to love and support them, even though she lives a great distance away from many of them. She is a tireless host and goes to great pains to make the best vegetarian Thanksgiving feast, year after year, in her tiny kitchen. An activist, she started the area’s first chapter for the National Organization for Women and protested the war in Iraq, a particularly unpopular notion in the red-state terrain of rural Arizona where she lives. She has always lived with her entire heart and is loved fiercely by all who know her well. It is a fitting tribute that her name graces the halls of the Women’s Building, which enchanted her when she first discovered it.
Honored by Laura McKaughan |
