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Judy Elliott, 71
Judy Elliott, 71, of Hammett, died Saturday, May 5, 2007, at a Boise hospital.
Graveside services were held Tuesday, May 8, at Hot Springs Cemetery in Bruneau. Arrangements were under the direction of Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel, in Mountain Home,.
Judy started out as Buddhist and was then baptized a Catholic and received the last rites.
She was born in Hadong, near Hanoi, North Vietnam, in 1935. Her father died when she was three years old. She had two sisters and one brother. Only one sister remains and is still living in what is known today as Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon). Judy largely grew up in the home of her aunt in Hanoi where she assisted in caring for the children and caring for the house.
At the partition in 1954 Judy elected to come to live in freedom and came with the American airlift to Saigon. "Those were difficult times but she was resourceful and stayed to it," her family said.
Judy met her husband, Tom, on May 5, 1966, in Saigon. They were married in 1969. She remained Tom's "wife, partner, and pal" for 41 years.
Eventually, 4 1/2 years later, the couple and her son immigrated to the United States. They lived in Guam and the Philippines. She attended the community college in Guam and studied economics for two years. She was the top student in her class. Seven years later they moved to Boise and then on to Redmond, Wash.
She was a constant companion and helped in her husband's various businesses. She worked for Safeway as a clerk for 10 years and became manager of the delicatessen.
Ultimately they moved back to Hammett in 1996, where they proceeded to build their home. Daily, she helped with the building process, and as Tom laid the blocks, she smoothed the joints.
"It was always her joy and her first thoughts centered around the grandchildren," her family said. "Judy had a place in her heart for animals and fed and cared for a multitude of stray cats that wandered in from the countryside. She cared for them as if they were her own children."
She is survived by: her husband, Tom; her son, Michael, and his wife, Cindy, three grandchildren; one-step daughter, Caroline, and her two children.