By George Kampling
Herald Staff Writer
November 28, 2008 10:29 am
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CLINTON — Sister Theresa Judge (Sister T. J., or T.J. to some), a member of the Clinton Order of St. Francis, was born in Clinton but grew up on the family farm west of Elvira on Elvira Road.
As many give thanks this Thanksgiving Day, Sister Theresa said, “I have lived a charmed life, I have an ‘attitude of gratitude.’ I’m thankful I’m alive and can still play tennis. Through the years I have never looked back and I’m on the path God made for me.
“The kids (college students) are delightful and keep me going. Many of my friends are younger than I am…I have lived a charmed life and I’m very grateful,” she said.
Her parents were Ambrose and Elsie Judge. Ambrose was from the Charlotte area and Elsie (Mohr) was born in Sabula and grew up in Maquoketa.
There were seven children in the Judge family, four boys and three girls.
“We had what I called a sandwich family,” said Judge. “There were two older boys, two younger boys, and three girls sandwiched in between.”
Her oldest brother, Jim, lives with his wife Pat (Shannon) on the family farm. Gene died in 1995. His widow, Sandy, lives in Camanche. Brother Larry, “the heart of the family,” is deceased and her brother John, former owner of River City Comics, lives in Clinton.
Sister Theresa is the oldest of the three girls. She is Department Chairwoman in the English Department at Ashford University. Cathryn works with mentally challenged foster children in Texas, and Rose is an art teacher at West Branch.
“Thanksgivings were wonderful when we were growing up,” she said. “We never had much company, the table was full with seven kids, mom and dad. Once in awhile mom’s sister (Emma) and her husband (Hans Burmeister) would come in from Iowa City.”
When asked if she could do anything or go anywhere this Thanksgiving Day what would she do, Sister Theresa said, “I would stop the war in Iraq.”
After her father died in 1976 the family continued their Thanksgiving dinners at the farm.
“In 1991 we had Thanksgiving at the dorm,” Judge said. “I had the family and invited the international students on campus to join us.”
Sister Theresa now lives in a house on a hill just east of Springdale Drive.
“Now, everybody is coming to my house,” she said of the residence she has had for 15 years. “It is potluck so I don’t have to cook everything. After dinner some stay in to watch football but several of us go out on the (University) soccer field for a walk.”
Judge attended Elvira elementary school and graduated from Elvira High School in 1960. She was valedictorian of her class of 16, eight girls and eight boys. At the time there was no junior high or middle school in Elvira. A student went from elementary school into high school. Both schools were under the same roof.
“The elementary grades were on the first floor and the high school, with a big study hall, on the top floor,” she said. “All of us (children) graduated from Elvira except John who graduated from Northeast (Northeast High School in Goose Lake).
“I really enjoyed riding horses when I was growing up,” she said. “We road them getting cattle in and sometimes I would just go riding. In those days the road (Elvira Road) was gravel and you could ride into Elvira and maybe only meet one car.”
Sister T.J.’s favorite elementary school teacher was Mrs. Ann Wiley whom she had for two years.
“I wasn’t held back,” she explained. “Mrs. Wiley was my first grade teacher and second grade teacher.”
Theresa said, “Through the years I have enjoyed all of my courses. I like learning things. My favorite subject has been English and No. 2 would be history.”
The Judge children attended catechism classes on Saturday.
“While I was in second grade I told the instructor (Sister Mary Louise) that I was going to be a nun,” she said. “And they kept reminding about that all the time. We had religious instruction on Saturday through the school year, and then we had summer vacation bible school.”
She said, “We were going to high school when a favorite television show was ‘Our Miss Brooks.’ Our English teacher was Mrs. Brady and we called her ‘Our Miss Brady.’ We also had Miss Wick in English and a history instructor was Mr. (John) Howe, our basketball coach all four years.”
“We only had one sport for girls, basketball,” she said. “I started and played guard.”
Girl’s basketball at the time was the former six-on-six game with three forwards at one end of the court and three guards at the other. Guards were guards and did not shoot, all the scoring was done at the forward end of the court.
“I did score two points in one game, I think it was my senior year,” Judge said. “The coach got mad at the forwards, put three guards in the forward end of the court, and I made a basket.
“We would ride the bus to school, practice after school, and someone would have to come pick us up. We did win a sectional tournament but we never went to state. I did go as a spectator once,” she said.
Judge grew up with boys and did play a lot of baseball with her brothers.
“One of my catechism instructors was Fr. (Rev.) James Quinlan,” said Sister Theresa. “We attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of his ordination in Burlington. When he saw me he said, ‘You’re the girl who used to play baseball like a boy.’”
After high school graduation, she enrolled at Mount St. Clare College, which was a two-year school for girls. She was editor of the school’s paper her sophomore year. Theresa received her Associate Arts degree in 1962. While other grads enrolled in four-year schools she entered the convent and started teaching.
“I took the name Sister Lawrence in honor of my brother Larry,” said Sister T.J. “When we were allowed to use our baptismal name, I asked Larry if I should keep the name Sister Lawrence or take Sister Theresa. He told me Sister Theresa,” she said.
A few years later Judge went on to earn her Bachelor’s Degree at Marycrest College in Davenport, then her Master’s Degree at Western Illinois in Macomb, both in English.
She taught eighth grade for nine years at St. Gerald’s in Oak Lawn, Ill., returning to the Mount St. Clare campus in 1976 as dormitory housemother, athletic director and dean of students for 18 years.
“I started teaching in 1993 and when Betty Bolton left I moved right into the English department,” she said. “English has always been my favorite, I enjoy reading English authors, and I enjoy teaching English classes.”
Every year Sister Judge is group leader on a London tour.
“While I was growing up we never had family vacations, with seven kids where would we go?” she queried. “Now I have this London thing. The first time I went was with a tour agency out of Chicago. Our tour guide was Frank Pipal.
“He told us if we got lost on the tube (subway) just follow directions to get back. I was terrified to ride the tube, it was so fast,” said Judge. “That got me started and I traveled to Spain and Italy through Chicago tours.”
The London tour is now booked through Mary Jo Dopson at Gateway Travel & Cruise in Clinton.
“I’m not sure how many years we have been going over (to London) but each one is better it seems,” said T.J. “I’m not sure what we saw first (theater), but it was either ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘The Phantom of the Opera.’”
Sister Theresa will lead the next annual Ashford University spring London getaway March 21 to 28, 2009.
“I invite everyone to come, discover castles and kings, enjoy the strong history, entertainment, theater, museums, shopping and local cuisine of this fascinating city,” she said. “London is the most exciting city in the world.”
She is a member of the Clinton Human Rights Commission, a Clinton Area Showboat Theatre Board member, is a member of the Arch board, and a member of the Martin Luther King Celebration Committee.
She also keeps busy with hobbies other than English. She enjoys tennis, trivia and reading (classics, crime stories, biographies and is a member of a book club in Fulton, Ill.).
“I learned much of my tennis from Y. Joe Williams (a highly regarded player and instructor in the area, and a former Mount St. Clare tennis coach),” said Judge who still plays twice a week — Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
“Y. Joe is a wonderful person and treats everyone special,” she said. “I entered Ericksen Center tournaments and have also been helped by Ruth Lemke and Mike Stamp of Camanche.
“I became interested in trivia and just love it. It has now become a family affair. We (family members) have entered trivia tournaments and it is like a family reunion.”
Other major interests are her two black German shepherd dogs and serving as official scorer for the men’s basketball teams for 32 years.
“That (being official scorer) is really exciting, I love it, I really do. And this year’s team is pretty exciting,” said Sister T.J. “My dogs, Barnum and Bailey, are two of the biggest babies going,”
Judge said. “They are perfect dogs and both are over 100 pounds.”
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