Judith G. Scudamore May 20, 1939 – March 07, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Sign Guestbook| Send Sympathy Card Judith G. Scudamore (1939 – 2019) A Celebration of Life for Judith G. “Judy” Scudamore, Loveland, will occur at 2:00pm Thursday, March 21st, at the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Jeremiah Harris officiating. Let us celebrate a life well lived.
A consummate educator, Judy’s was a life dedicated to promoting excellence in education and of service to others. In all her endeavors, she brought passion and compassion, organizational skills, and a drive to achieve the goal. Before we begin, let’s provide some data for the genealogists.
Judy was born the first of six girls to R. Douglas and Mildred Benefiel Gill on May 20, 1939 in Harper, KS, where she spent her early years at the home place; a registered Hereford ranch and wheat farm operation. She was preceded in death by her parents and sisters: Martha L. Roye, Nancy L. Mauldin, Vera Jean McMahon and Ann Jeanette Gill(infant). She is survived by her husband James Scudamore of Loveland, her sister Mary (Conrad) Tucker of Grand Junction, stepson Joshua Seaver of St Paul, MN, stepdaughter Cathy (Dennis) Forbes of Owasso, OK, granddaughter Rachel (Scott) Nicholas of Wichita, KS and grandson DaKota (Nicole) Urban and their daughter Ava Michele of Newark, DE as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and their children.
Judy’s dedication to education started early in life as each morning she would saddle her horse and ride about one mile to a one-room school; probably up hill both ways. She would occasionally remark on some of those experiences. She moved on to schools with more rooms and graduated from Harper High School in the Class of 1957.
During those HS years she was a member of the Under-the-Street gang; notorious for their home-game night slumber parties rocking and rolling with records and horsing around the Harper fountain after dark. Over the next 17 years or so she completed her Bachelors Degree in Education at Kansas State University, and a Master Degree in Counseling at Wichita State University while she taught English and served as a counselor at Medicine Lodge High School. At KSU she joined Alpha Chi Omega Sorority.
She continued to stay in touch with many of those students and teachers both on Facebook and by mail. She moved to Topeka where she joined the staff of the Kansas State Department of Education. In the ensuing seven years she served as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Education, an Education Specialist, and Directed Teacher Licensure and Accreditation Team.
That team issued educator licenses, oversaw K-12 accreditation helped reviewed educator training at State universities, and supported continuing professional development for educators. In the late 1980’s the very persuasive Director of the Education Service Center- Greenbush lured her away from her doctoral work. The Center, serving a nine county area in SE Kansas, strives to create opportunities for children to succeed.
As her boss put it, she was a role model and visionary mentor for other staff during her tenure at Greenbush. Working with others, she provided leadership for the expansion of a fiber optic network for distant-learning that provided advance placement classes to small student populations at area high schools; before the days of the internet. The next stop was USD 250 in Pittsburg KS as Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction.
Her work revolved around understanding what kids need to know and how to deliver it. A retired superintendent noted, it’s really hard to communicate how much she helped the students by working with the staff. When something was needed for the elementary schools, she would write a grant to obtain the funding.
One highlight of her work at USD 250 was helping create of the Family Re Center. The Center began with the recognition that kids on entering school were not ready to learn. The Center focused on helping families to help kids get ready to learn.
Judy wrote a $60,000 grant that provided the seed funding to launch the Center, recommended and created space in the USD 250 office for a Director, and helped generate the ideas for the Center’s operation. Today the Center serves 500+ kids with a staff of ninety. Judy retired from USD 250 but there was still work that needed doing and Judy couldn’t pass up a challenge that offered an opportunity to improve the lives of others.
Called from retirement she worked with community leaders to create the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas (CFSEK) and served as it’s first Executive Director. Following several years at the helm, she passed the watch to other able hands. Today it continues to serve the citizens and the communities of Southeast Kansas through grants and scholarships.
Beyond education, she was involved with local service organizations. During her time at USD 250, she joined the Pittsburg Rotary Club, becoming a founding member of the Sunrise Rotary Club. Following her second retirement, she moved to Loveland and continued with Rotary and joined PEO.
In Rotary she served on the Scholarship committee, organizing material on applicants, reviewing scholarship requests, and helping to select worthy recipients. In PEO she served officer and invested her time PEO scholarship activity; particularly the Program for Continuing Education (PCE). PCE provides needs-based grants to women who need to return to school to support themselves and their families.
She worked with Project Self-Sufficiency (PSS) to identify women who qualified for these grants. To honor Judy and her work please support your choice of the organizations below with your gift in lieu of flowers: Community Foundation SEK f/b/o Family Re Center Endowment, Pittsburg, KS P.E.O. Foundation with a memo-line note for PCE Grants Loveland Rotary Club Foundation – Vocational Scholarships SERVICES Celebration of Life Service Thursday, March 21, 2019 2:00 PM First United Methodist Church 6th and Grant Ave.
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