Obituary of Judith Kay Dennis

Obituary of Judith Kay Dennis, nee Lemley - PDF Judith Kay Dennis, nee Lemley, was born in Topeka, Kansas on April 16, 1948. Following a hospital stay over Christmas in December, 2016 and then again in January, 2017, Judith passed away on February 10, 2017 in Los Robles Hospital, Thousand Oaks, from acute hypoxic encephalopathy and congestive heart failure. Judy grew up in the small, peaceful town of Dwight, Kansas where she excelled in academics and became valedictorian of her high school class. She also won an essay contest on rural electrification that earned her a trip to Washington DC where she met Kansas Senator Bob Dole. Immediately upon her return from the nation’s capital, she attended Girls State at Kansas University (KU). The Ladies American Legion Auxiliary sponsored her. She loved music and was the drum major in her high school band. After high school, Judy attended KU for three years. In her junior year, while working as a student at the KU Computation Center, she met her future husband, Daryl Dennis. They married in Dwight on June 8, 1969, and moved to Princeton, NJ where she provided office support for the Digital Equipment Corporation. In August, 1970, the couple became a Marine Corps family. Over the next eight years, they moved to Pensacola, Florida, to Jacksonville, North Carolina and, eventually, to Orange County, California where they settled. During that period, Judith excelled in classes at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the University of West Florida in Pensacola, and Kansas State University in Manhattan. When her husband was deployed overseas, Judy moved to Manhattan with their two-year old daughter, Diedre, to complete her degree and to be close to her parents in Dwight. At Kansas State, Judy earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Humanities. Following graduation in June, 1974, she and Diedre embarked on a long journey to the Philippines and Okinawa to reunite their family for a few weeks. Together, in addition to savoring the culture of the Far East, they enjoyed seeing Da Vinci’s iconic Western Civilization painting of the Mona Lisa that happened to be on tour in Tokyo, Japan. Judy appreciated art. As the mother of two daughters and a son, Judy’s love, openness, and warmth surrounded her family. Judy had unbounded curiosity and was interested in the world and how everything worked. She enjoyed teaching her children about life and its wonders. She volunteered as a parent to assist the teachers at her daughter’s grade school. One summer while her husband spent two weeks on active duty in Washington DC, Judy took their young children on the DC Metro for tours of the monuments and the Smithsonian. She loved this country and was pleased to teach them about it. Judith was also an excellent homemaker and outstanding seamstress who sewed incredible Halloween customs for each of her three children. She always saw to it that the Christmas tree was surrounded by a large number of lovingly wrapped gifts for the children. On their birthdays, she baked very creative birthday cakes. And she loved plants. She set up an intricate watering system that allowed several plants to bloom around the home. In her presence, people discovered she was an excellent listener, remaining patiently focused on them and intent on understanding what they were saying. She was an avid reader of all things with interests that included cook books, medical procedures, murder mysteries, spy novels, computers, Ayn Rand, Egyptology, and technological advancements. She thoroughly enjoyed traveling with her family. They crossed the United States several times, stopping to see geological wonders,historical sites, museums, and shops. In 2007, she enjoyed an amazing trip to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales with her son, husband, and sister-in-law, Mary Spicer. She visited Buckingham Palace in London where they were kindly granted special access due to her disabilities. In Scotland, a country where some of her maternal ancestors lived, Judy was thrilled by the engineering marvel called the Falkirk Wheel, a huge rotating boat lift connecting two canals. In Ireland, her self-determination was evident as she climbed up the Obituary of Judith Kay Dennis, nee Lemley - PDF narrow steps of the castle with her son to see the famous Blarney Stone. Judy enjoyed visiting the Waterford Chrystal plant in Ireland and seeing Stonehenge in England. In September 1995, Judy was devastated by the sudden death of her vivacious and athletic 16 year old daughter, Myriah Joy. An unknown and inoperable brain tumor had suddenly taken her life. This deep and unalleviated loss remained an agonizing ache in Judy’s heart. Yet over time, Judy’s innate spirit of being ever positive about life itself allowed her to continue enjoying others. Through her wise presence and loving spirit, Judy deeply touched her family and friends. Her patience in raising her autistic son, Nathan, helped him to grow into a strong person who enjoys his life, flies model airplanes, learns, speaks, writes, exercises, and laughs heartily. Largely because of her efforts, he is living a full life today. When thinking of Judy, some of the words that come to mind are: cheerfulness, intelligence, courage, lightness of being, love of country, humor, curiosity, presence, wit, individuality, freedom, and caring. She was analytical, practical, creative, modest, fearless, aware, deep, warm, accepting, and filled with hope and love.Judith was preceded in death by her daughter, Myriah Joy Dennis; her parents, Wayne and Florence Lemley; and her brother, Jerry Lemley. She is survived by her husband, Daryl Dennis of Camarillo, CA; her daughter and son-in-law, Diedre and Bennett Braverman of Boulder, CO; her son, Nathan Dennis of Ventura, CA; her grandchildren, Augustus and Alexandra Wachbrit of Newbury Park, CA; and her sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Gail Kreutzer of Williamsburg, IA. Donations to Judith’s memory are welcome and may be made to The ARC of Ventura County. Visit www.arcvc.org.