On Wednesday, May 24, as the hay was being bailed in the field, and the newborn calves were playing in the pasture, Judith Nugent took her last breath in this world, and her first breath in the next, as her beautiful soul passed through the window, toward the western sky and the final resting place of her beloved Meredith. Her children were at her side as the gate opened, she took the hand of her husband, and walked across that hay field one more time.

Judy entered this world a daughter, but she left it as an aunt, a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a dear friend, a matriarch. Her greatest source of pride and joy was her family. She cherished every moment with them. She loved to laugh, loved traveling, cooking, golf cart rides with her great grandkids, a freshly mowed lawn, her Eddie dog, original Lifetime and Hallmark movies, and shopping, never passing up a good bargain.

She is preceded in death by her parents, brothers and sisters of the family that became hers, a nephew, and her husband, Meredith Allen Nugent. She leaves behind a son (Meredith Allen Jr. (Bud)), a daughter (Margaret Elizabeth) and son-in-law (Max), a grandson (Sam) and granddaughter-in-law (Jen), a granddaughter (Roxie) and grandson-in-law (Gene), and 7 great grandchildren (Lexie, Teagan, Auggie, Addie, Channing, Ellie, and Evvy.)

She will be dearly missed but will forever live on in the hearts and minds of her family, as will the bedrock foundation of stability, love, pride, and encouragement that she worked to build. It will forever be felt by those who are here now, and those yet to come. While future generations may not know where that foundation originated, they will come to know it, none the less, as it’s passed down from one era to the next.

Though her body was laid to rest at Lewis Creek Baptist Cemetery on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, her soul lives elsewhere. In a farmhouse kitchen, just the other side of a divide that we cannot see from this world, love and laughter are once again being shared between a husband and wife, and in the center of that room sits a long table, lined with refurbished, hand-caned chairs, each one crafted with meticulous detail, and each one awaiting a family member that has yet to arrive, dinner is on the stove, and the sweet sounds of her humming fill the air.