Judith P Lawrence

Judith P. Lawrence

February 19, 1940 – July 9, 2025

Born into a close-knit Italian American family, Judith spent her early childhood years in Lawrence, MA, before moving with her family to Warwick, RI. She attended Warwick Veteran’s Memorial High School, graduating in 1958. Judith earned her BA in English from the University of Rhode Island (URI), continuing on to earn a graduate degree in economics some years later.

In the intervening years, she taught high school English in San Jose, CA and Stonington, CT, and Introductory Economics at Connecticut College. Judith also spent many years in the 1980s and 1990s as an Institutional Researcher at URI, and working as a consultant, providing expert testimony during public utility hearings.

Living in Kingston, RI, for many decades, she spent countless summer days on her beloved Narragansett beach often walking with family and friends down to the end of the beach to the Narrow River estuary, then floating on the outflowing river current to the sea. When not at the beach she could be found biking around South Kingstown and Narragansett or taking classes at her dance studio in Wakefield or walking the campus of URI. She was an enthusiastic gardener, reader, traveler and cook. She was energetic with a zest for life that friends would often remark on, as they do now. A friend and fellow dancer once remarked, after having gone to a dance performance in New York City with her and several others: “When you go to New York with Judith get ready for some exhausting forced marches through the city.”

A move to Silver City, NM, in the mid-90s led to a position at Western New Mexico University (WNMU) as Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs. She remained at WNMU until moving to Tucson, AZ in 2012. Judith was living in Tucson, AZ, when she died at age 85.

She is survived by her devoted husband David and daughter Chelsea, grandsons Khari and Dean, beloved son-in-law Bryan, much loved brother Joe, a myriad of nieces, nephews and cousins, and an untold number of friends. The devastating death of her beloved son, Devon, preceded her own by 11 years.

She will be profoundly missed by all who knew and loved her. She was a remarkable person, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.

Memorials and celebrations of Judith’s life will be held at later dates in both Tucson, AZ, and South Kingstown, RI, where family and friends will gather to honor her memory and share stories of her remarkable spirit and adventures. Following her wishes, her ashes will be lovingly scattered at a location meaningful to her.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Sky Island Alliance, Tucson, AZ.