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Elizabeth Judkins

October 31, 1949 -- January 3, 2017

Elizabeth Huntington Judkins was the daughter of Thomas Reed Powell, Jr., an insurance agent in Stonington, CT, and Margaret Leonard Drum, a social worker. Elizabeth never graduated from high school.

After her sophomore year in Hamden, Connecticut, Elizabeth enrolled at Goucher College in Maryland. Within two years, she had taken all the relevant math courses and transferred to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she finally received a diploma for her master’s degree. She was ABD in two disciplines – mathematics at Wisconsin, and economics at the University of Maryland – but chose to remain an IT consultant and data base designer.

Her first marriage was to Ross E. Jones, a fellow grad student in math and a member of ROTC. He later became a navigator for the Strategic Air Command. Elizabeth followed him to Moffet Air Force Base in California, where she began developing a data base for a chain of camera stores. When Ross was transferred to Marquette, Michigan, she began working remotely for her clients in California; she learned to like working in the small hours of the night, when long distance telephone rates were low. Ross was then transferred to the Pentagon, Elizabeth followed, and the marriage ended in divorce a few years later.

She then met and married Henry Thomas (Tom) Judkins, an executive at a beltway IT consulting firm. Settling in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Elizabeth and Tom shared a love of flying and were dedicated members of MASA, the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association. They were also devoted to their German Shepherds, Sam, Vic, Willy, Max and Kat. Tom Judkins died in 2012.

Elizabeth consulted for many years with the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) and was employed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), from which she retired in 2013.

She was survived by her close friend and companion, Gary R. Smolen, who was her caretaker through her four years of Parkinson's with Lewy Body Dementia; by her son, Preston Rohner of Park City, Utah, his wife Alexis, and four grandchildren; by her brother, Thomas R. Powell III of Morgan Hill, CA; and her sister, Mary Leonard of Detroit.

Elizabeth’s family will deeply appreciate donations in her memory to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.