Judith Dale Vandegrift

She carried youth like a flame that never dimmed — a magic she even held in stone. From the Himalayan peaks at 17,000 feet to the wilds of Africa, from painting workshops to safaris, her life was a canvas of wonder. She loved Brian and Kyle deeply, and she said the best thing that ever happened to her was meeting me.

During El Niño, when Highway 1 was closed, she was evacuated from Big Sur by Chinook helicopter. In that moment she told a friend she would find a model of the Chinook to remember the experience. That search led her to me — I built the helicopter for her, and from then on we never parted. We even called El Niño our patron saint, for it brought us together.

Judy was not only an artist of images, but of ideas. She wrote and produced math learning materials for children, working with publishers and later freelancing with success, leaving her mark in the world of education. Her work helped countless young students see math not as something hard, but as something alive, playful, and possible.

Her images were marvelous, but her true masterpiece was the way she lived: radiant, adventurous, devoted, and forever young. And yet, Judy’s love endures — steady as breath, carried forward in every silence and every song. Even the airplanes she cherished remind me of her spirit, always overhead, always present.