Judy Finley Goodhart

Judy Finley Goodhart should have been born humming music. Upon entering the world on Sept 1, 1941, her fingers might as well have been stretched in preparation for a lifetime of playing piano, her mouth puckering to play the flute. Instead, she was born on her grandparents farm in rural southern Illinois, weighed on a turkey scale, which is amusing given that she primarily disliked anything with feathers, fur, and whiskers. Her intolerance for animals was only matched by her disgust for milk, much to the delight of her ornery younger brother Johnny, who chased her with glasses of milk and would grow up to become a veterinarian.

Judy had no room in her heart for creatures or dairy because it was already filled to capacity with love for her family, especially her husband, Bob, with whom she was married for 60 years and was the only man alive who could convince her to get on a boat. The first love of her life, however, was her mother Freda Winters Finley Stephens. As a duo, they were most happy in each other’s presence, single handedly keeping TJ Maxx in business for decades. Her parents Freda and Bernard, both lifelong beloved teachers, inspired Judy to use her passion of music to launch a career. After graduating from Southern Illinois University in 1963, Judy would marry Bob and settle in Springfield, Illinois, working in the school system teaching music for her entire career. 

Adoption would bring her the next loves of her life, her daughter Amy and son Scott. While she delighted in her Scott’s blond curls as a child, his rare sense of humor, and later in the family he formed with his wife Darla, it was Amy that would cause Judy to uproot her life, at a time when many people settled into retirement, to move to Fort Collins, Colorado. If there was anyone who wondered why Judy and Bob would leave Springfield in order to live almost practically in Amy’s backyard, all they needed to do was see Amy and Judy together. While the two were practically inseparable, it was the arrival of her grandchildren, Madeline and Carter, that solidified her choice to open a new life chapter.

It was in Colorado that Judy spent her last 20 years, watching her grandchildren grow up, playing her piano, napping on her screened-in porch, and sitting behind the counter at Amy’s much-loved boutique gift store making the best gift bows you have ever seen!  She was an active member of PEO, her church, First Presbyterian, and continued to share her gift of piano playing anytime she could. At the age of 83, she passed on from this world to the sound of a flute and piano, and to the voices of Bob and her family and friends gathered around her, the true music of her life.  

Her celebration of life will be held on January 4th at 10:30am at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins with a good old midwest potluck lunch to follow in the fellowship hall at the church.