To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children; to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -- this is to have succeeded.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Judy's Life Story
Judy Carole McCracken was born July 8, 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota to John and Alice McCracken. Judy and her sisters Jean and Susie grew up in Davenport, Iowa. Their grandparents and extended family lived on a farm a few hours’ drive away in the small community of Thornburg, Iowa. Judy loved visiting the farm and her grandparents, great uncle and aunts, and cousin for holidays and school breaks. Judy fell in love with horses as a young girl and would ask her parents for a horse every year on Christmas and her birthday. Judy and her best friend Janet would clean stalls for free just for the chance to ride other families’ horses. Judy was active in the community and school clubs, serving on student council, working as a camp counselor and lifeguard, and teaching kids how to swim. During her teens, she spent many summers working on a ranch in the Colorado mountains, riding horses through forests and catching fish from rivers. She completed her bachelor’s degree in education from Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Upon graduating from college, Judy moved to Colorado to begin her teaching career. She married Bill Hannebaum in 1964 and moved to Alaska where she taught elementary school for 25 years. Because her new last name was a bit difficult for young children to pronounce, she affectionately became known as “Mrs. H.” She loved teaching. She also loved having summers off to be outside enjoying Alaska. Judy was an avid fisherwoman. She preferred fly fishing on lakes and streams, for rainbow trout, salmon, arctic char, and dolly varden. The log cabin on Benka Lake was one of her favorite places in the whole world. Judy loved the outdoors; hiking, camping, fishing, golfing, skiing, canoeing, and picking wild berries.
At 28 years old, Judy became a mother to Lynn. Judy and Lynn had a very close relationship with strong heartstrings tying them together for life. They loved playing cribbage at the cabin, fishing, whitewater rafting and picking wildberries together. At times it was as though they were best friends or sisters. Lynn would help set up Judy’s classrooms every fall. Judy and Lynn both loved to travel and went on many trips and adventures together. During her life, Judy visited Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Hawaii more times than anyone can recall as well as the Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, New Zealand, Canada, Samoa, Costa Rica, Belize, and Guatemala.
When she retired from teaching in 1989, Judy moved to Washington. She lived in central Washington for about ten years, then on the coastal western side for twenty years. She loved exploring all corners of Washington. Here she rode horses, played golf, discovered sea kayaking, and walked beaches with her dogs picking up remnants of beach glass. Lynn moved to Washington in 2005 with Judy’s two grandchildren, Shelby and Connor. It was very important to both Lynn and Judy that they live near each other.
Judy loved being a very present and involved Nana to Shelby and Connor. She taught both how to read before preschool and could be counted on to have the best arts and craft ideas. She drove Shelby to horse riding lessons and Connor to tennis lessons, helped them submit entries to the county fair, and sewed dozens of baby and toddler clothes. Lynn and the grandkids helped Nana in her gardens. Digging potatoes in the fall was one of their favorite activities. The kids knew Nana always had cookies in the freezer for when they visited. Judy, Lynn, Shelby and Connor went on many adventures together in Alaska, Washington, Mexico, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, California, and Canada. Many laughs were had recollecting places they’d visited and how they could find a great bakery everywhere.
Although she is no longer with us on Earth, Judy will live on through the memories and imparted wisdom she’s left many of us with, such as: live your life with a joyful heart; treat others with empathy; even though sometimes we’re by ourselves, we are never alone; and if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
Judy asked us to share this Irish-Scottish song with all of you. Think of her as you listen to it and perhaps raise a glass in her honor.
The Parting Glass
—The High Kings
Oh all the time that e're I spent,
I spent it in good company;
And any harm that e're I've done,
I trust it was to none but me;<br>
May those I've loved through all the years
Have memories now they'll e're recall,
So fill me to the parting glass,
Goodnight, and joy be with you all.
Oh all the comrades that e're I had,
Are sorry for my going away;
And all the loved ones that e're I had
Would wish me one more day to stay.
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should leave and you should not,
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Goodnight, and joy be with you all.
Of all the good times that e're we shared,
I leave to your fond memory;
And for all the friendship that e're we had
I ask you to remember me;
And when you sit and stories tell,
I'll be with you and help recall;
So fill to me the parting glass,
God bless, and joy be with you all.
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Everything remains as it was.
The old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no sorrow in your tone.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effort.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting, when we meet again.
Gone From My Sight
—A 19th Century Funeral Sermon
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”
“Gone where?”
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “Here she comes!”
And that is dying...
Do you have a memory of Judy that you'd like to share? Submit it and any photographs on the Memories page.
Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.
