- Date Of Birth: September 28, 1936
- Date Of Death: August 8, 2020
- State: Michigan
Judith Ann Walters passed away on Saturday, August 8, 2020 at Friendship Village at the age of 83. She ended a years long struggle with Alzheimer’s Dementia that took away her incredible gift of striking up a conversation with friends and strangers alike.
It was well known that she often knew more details about her children’s friends than they did themselves. She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother who found her greatest joy in helping others. Judy was born to the late Dr. Otto K. and Mary Ellen Engelke in Dearborn, MI. She went on to attend the University of Michigan where she made many life-long friends in the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and graduated in 1958 with a degree in education. While teaching elementary school in Grosse Pointe, MI in 1961 she married her husband James H. Walters and then moved to Portage where she continued to teach at Amberly Elementary School. She left teaching to begin a family and she and Jim adopted 3 children, Jim, Jennifer and Maribeth.
She was active in the Michigan Chapter of P.E.O. and the Literacy Foundation, where she continued her passion for teaching by volunteering to teach adults to read and write. She also volunteered for Family and Children Services where she helped to allow foster children and other families achieve the joy that she received from adoption. She and Jim later became involved as chapter leaders with the AFS student exchange program where they welcomed numerous exchange students into their home over the years. They kept in touch with all of them and enjoyed visiting them as adults when they had the opportunity to travel the world in retirement. Over the years she continued her love of adoption by taking in numerous Golden Retrievers who were a joyful part of her daily family life.
Judy was preceded in death by her parents and husband and is survived by her children: Dr. Jim (Molly) Walters, Jennifer Walters and Maribeth (Jeff) Walters; grandchildren: Sam Walters, Ben Walters and Zoe Walters; siblings: Robert Engelke and Jean Carnes.
