05.18.19
My mother RIP
My mother, Judith Newlin Sherwood passed away, April 26, 2019 in her home in Bellingham, Washington. She was 80 years old. Memorial services will be held at 3PM on Friday May 24, 2019 at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship in Bellingham, WA. She is survived by her sister Joyce, brother Joe, her three children — Anton, Tim, and me — and her former husband Bruce.
Mom was born in 1939 to Mildred and Jason Newlin in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her childhood was spent in Carmel, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis, close to relatives and the wonderful fields and farms of (then-rural) central Indiana. When she was twelve, her family moved to West Lafayette, Indiana. She met Bruce Sherwood at West Lafayette High School and married him in 1959, after their junior year in college. During their senior year, they were they first married couple to appear on College Bowl, and on the first team to win four games in a row.
She completed her preparatory education and life in central Indiana in 1960 when she graduated from Purdue University.
She and Dad then spent a year in Padova, Italy after they graduated, where my brother Anton was born. They then finished their educations at the University of Chicago, where Mom earned a masters in Statistics. They then spent three years in Pasadena, CA.
In 1969, Mom and Dad, now with three children, moved to Champaign, Illinois. They both established careers there that supported education delivery in a distinctly technological and novel way at the PLATO project at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. During most of my childhood, Mom worked as an on-line “consultant”, helping novice programmers debug their programs.
Having raised a family, acquiring invaluable experience and skills in a quietly major technologically innovative project, Mom’s life changed focus to a different type of spiritual growth. She moved from Champaign in 1984, to Pittsburgh, PA, to Mt. View, California and finally to Bellingham. She formally retired in California in 2002 with nearly 35 years of experience in computing technology.
In 2004, Mom made Bellingham, WA her home, joining the community taking and taking a seat at a few tables. Her hobbies included quilting and duplicate bridge, and she was active in the Hearing Loss Association, the Unitarian Church, and local associations. She is remembered by many for her cheerful kindness.
The family asks that donations in lieu of flowers go to the Hearing Loss Association of America or the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
David B Knoll said,
May 19, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Ducky – You left out a major accomplishment — the record setting performance at the GE College Bowl TV show. West siders are particularly proud of their string of victories and the fact that three out of the four students who represented Purdue were . . . West Side graduates.
Dave Knoll
Loyal Scribe
WLHS Class of 1956
ducky said,
May 26, 2019 at 9:36 pm
Dave — Fixed.