Judith Ann Jeffreys

June 25, 1948 — February 22, 2006

Judith Ann Jeffreys (neé Bobo) grew up in Arlington, Virginia. She attended Congressional School, then Gunston Middle School, and graduated from Wakefield High School. She briefly attended Radford College in Virginia before ending up in San Francisco, where she would eventually graduate with a B.A. from San Francisco State University. She often said that she understood John Denver’s lyric “coming home to a place he’d never been before” after she visited San Francisco. She quickly made San Francisco her home. There she met Robert Riddlemoser and married, although unfortunately that relationship did not work out. After briefly returning to Virginia, she returned to San Francisco and eventually ended up marrying Mark Jeffreys. They had one daughter, Angela Jeffreys.

In 1986, less than a year after Angela was born, Judith was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, which was successful, and with some medication kept it in remission for many years. In 1996, the cancer started growing again, eventually spreading to her hip and liver. On February 22, 2006, after many treatments, the tumor on her liver took her life. Although her death was devastating to her friends and family, as was found in one of her journals after her death, she was so grateful to have 20 years after her first diagnosis and to see Angela grow up.

Judith was never able to travel to Hawaii. While she was dying, a sudden but clear thought popped into Angela’s head that her ashes should be scattered there. She always wanted to go there, and she always wanted to be warm. That idea planted on the evening of February 21, 2006. After she passed away and life took over, other things had to come before a grand trip to Hawaii. After all, Judith always appreciated the good life so if her ashes were to be scattered there, it had to be done correctly.

So it is with great excitement that Angela Jeffreys and her husband will both travel to Hawaii for the first time to scatter Judith’s ashes on what would have been her 72nd birthday. They hope others will be able to join them to celebrate Judith’s life.