Judith A. Jameson

Our beloved mother, Judith Ann Jameson, née Lebzelter, passed on suddenly on the afternoon of August 21st. Born January 23, 1939 in West Branch, she was the first of the two children of Paul R. and Dorothy (McGowan) Lebzelter. Her maternal McGowan relatives came to West Branch in the 1880s, where John C. McGowan, Sr., her great-grandfather, established a hardware that was carried forward into the late 1970s by Paul Lebzelter. Paul’s family came from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by way of Detroit. Her great-grandmother, Mary Ann Hyde McGowan, helped to lay the cornerstone of Trinity Episcopal Church in West Branch. Judy attended public schools in her hometown, where she graduated in the class of 1957. She then attended Michigan State University, majoring in Child Development; while there she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She received her B.A. in Education from San José State University in 1961. In the early 1960s she married and moved to Leelanau County, where she taught grade school at the Leelanau Schools, which, together with the Leelanau Homestead, was owned and managed by her husband and his family. Judy inspired others with her boldness and adventurous spirit. She took flying lessons while pregnant with her first child. She was an accomplished horsewoman, one of the first women certified as a ski instructor in the Midwest, a Little League baseball and high school tennis coach. She invented an ingenious baby spoon when her youngest child was born. In the early 1980s she ran an interior design business, Ann Huey Interiors at Leland, and later was one of the principals of Huey/Heeseman Interiors in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her passion in later life was for painting. Though her family always took center stage, she was intensely interested in community and others around her. Judy was a former member of the Little Garden Club in Leland, where she was a moving force in the beautification of Main Street through the planting of maple trees in the 1980s. Those trees are now beginning to reach their maturity. She later joined the Marquette Garden Club and served on the Marquette Hospital Auxiliary. She was on the Board of Directors of the Marquette Child and Family Services in 1992. Her first marriage to Richard K. Huey II produced the three of us: Richard K. Huey III (Sally Williams), Michael C.M. Huey (Christian Witt-Dörring), and Susanne Sandmeyer (Tim McCracken). Also surviving are her five adored grandchildren, Francesca, Camille, and Caroline Huey, and Kate and Luca McCracken. Her beloved brother, William “Shipen” Lebzelter, died in 1986, her parents more recently. Doug Jameson became a part of our family after falling in love with our mother, and later marrying her, on September 12, 1998. Doug survives, along with his children David (Stacey Rae Ott) and Becky (James Smith), as do his grandchildren Reed, Gage, Parker, Gabrielle, Lou, and Eli. Doug and Judy delighted in all their grandchildren together. We will forever miss Judy’s kindness, generosity, and grace - expressed even at the very end by her wish to be an organ donor - but know that these are qualities that are steadfast and enduring, and part of something larger. When we returned to her home after her death, we found on her easel what we all agreed was her best artwork yet - if not quite completed - a successful experiment in an entirely new subject and palette. We cannot help but feel that her work here, too, was not quite done, but we stand in front of it in awe. We would especially like to thank Sara Huey Thompson, Jim and Leah Lebzelter, Becky and James Smith, and Stacey Rae Jameson for helping us to send off our mother with many kisses, caresses, tears, and joyful words. We honor Doug’s quick action and kindness to our mother in her last moments, as well as the EMT and hospital staff, which provided such good and heartfelt service. The memorial service for Judith Ann Jameson will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 28th at Trinity Episcopal Church in West Branch, followed by refreshments at the West Branch Country Club. Friends may call on the evening of Friday, August 27th from 6-9 p.m. at Steuernol & McLaren Funeral Home, 109 E. Houghton Avenue. In lieu of flowers please direct memorials in the name of Judith Ann Jameson to Gift of Life (www.giftoflifemichigan.org); Trinity Episcopal Church, West Branch; or The Leelanau Conservancy (www.theconservancy.com).