JUDY THOMPSON

Judy Thompson was born Judith Hartzell in the Appalachian region of West Virginia.  As an adult she moved with her husband Gene to Ramsau, Germany where she completed a four year apprenticeship to become a wood sculptor. When she returned to the states, she continued carving, specializing in family coats of arms in Salt Lake City, Utah. Judy served as Artist in Residence for the Salt Lake City Artist Guild and has written articles for the National Wood Carvers Magazine. Researching other family histories led her to seek answers about her own family.

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Judy and her husband moved to the Seattle area in 1980 when they became Jiffy-Lube franchise owners. Money magazine interviewed them for an article on how to diversify their savings just four years later.

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It was while at Highline Community College in 1988 working on an AA degree that she was encouraged to write by her Humanities teacher Ellen Hoffman. Her continued studies of Art History and Psychology at the University of Washington led her deep into self – discovery and more encouragement to write.

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Notebooks and tapes began to fill in the 1990’s while nursing sick and aging relatives in West Virginia. It is from this accumulation of experiences and research that Judy decided to piece together the events that led to the shocking murder of her Mother in 1952 when she was just 6 years old. Judy tries to answer the questions of her upbringing for herself in her memoir entitled Lost Creek.

Judy and Gene have now been married 50 years. Judy is an avid gardener at their home on the Puget Sound near Seattle, WA in the summer, and Paradise Valley, AZ in the winter when they are not traveling. They have three children and five grandchildren.