Judith Marilla Annabel

Judith Marilla Donley was born on November 11, 1939, joining the family that included her sister Frances, mother Vivione and father Clinton. She spent the first 5 years of her life in Huntsville, Washington, where her parents operated a wheat farm. An interesting ancestral fact is that Judi shared a middle name with her father’s mother, grandmother and great, great grandmother. The family moved to Waitsburg when she was 5 when Clinton started farming there. She attended elementary and high school in Waitsburg, graduating in 1957. When she was in elementary school, she and her sister appeared in dance and piano recitals. She also was a member of the 4H garden club and went to the State Fair several times. She was a member of many service clubs in high school and played drums in the school band. Although she gave up the piano, she continued with her dance throughout high school. She was asked by the high school basketball coach to try to help the team with their footwork, so she attended practice and taught them dance steps. She excelled in sports, especially softball, but girls were not allowed to compete interscholastically at that time. After high school, she attended Whitworth College’s Deaconess school of nursing in Spokane for two years where she met her first husband, Gerald Goff, an airman at Fairchild Air Force Base. After marriage, she joined her husband on several overseas assignments with the Air Force and did not complete the nursing program.

After settling in the Phoenix area after her military travels, she attended college to study accounting. Judi worked in the banking industry and was a bank manager at the time of retirement. While working in Arizona, she raised her three children and returned to her love of sports by playing and competing in softball against much younger women. After her father passed, Judi brought her mother to Arizona to care for her. After her mother passed Judi moved to a retirement community where she was actively involved. She led Bingo and various other activities while living there, and she volunteered to take older residents to medical appointments. She was an avid reader, and she followed the Arizona Diamondbacks. Before her hips began giving her too much trouble, she and a friend had season tickets to Diamondback home games. She loved to crochet and knit, and her whimsical animal creations grace the bedrooms of many of her grandchildren and great nieces.

She is preceded in death by her sister Frances, brother Clint, sister Delores, and her beloved parents Clinton and Vivione Donley.She is survived by her three children. Melodie (spouse Shayne) Graffenberger, Chris (spouse Pam) Goff, and Suzanne (spouse Jim) Kent. She also leaves behind 9 grandchildren,13 great grandchildren, her brother Bill Donley and many other family members who will miss her dearly.