Judith (Gilmore) Kirby ’62 of Frankfort, Illinois, died Aug. 7, 2020. She was 80. Judy earned a bachelor’s degree in music education at Illinois Wesleyan, where she was also active in Sigma Kappa, Delta Omicron and other musical groups. She went on to a 35-year career as a music teacher at Western Avenue Elementary School in Flossmoor, Illinois, where she led musicals, Christmas concerts and variety shows. She also directed choir at Flossmoor Community Church. In her final days at a care facility, her former students sang for her — mostly through virtual means, over cell phones and laptop computers — from outside her window. Judy’s former students’ tribute to their elementary school teacher was featured in a segment on Chicago’s WGN Evening News.
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I will forever be grateful for Judy’s convincing me to audition for the Collegiate Choir when I was a new Freshman at IWU. It was a wonderful experience! We later became sisters in Delta Omicron, and I now have friends from joining a DO alumni group many years later. I was glad to see Judy again at the Delta Omicron centenniel celebration a few years ago. Joan Colburn Robertson, x63