My friend, Judy Alter, died unexpectedly on Saturday after a short battle with cancer. She was 85. She and I were part of a Works-in-Progress group through Story Circle Network, and we also read and commented regularly on each other’s daily blogs.

I never met Judy in person, but that didn’t keep me from holding her in high esteem and feeling as if she was part of my life. She wrote often about her kids and grandkids, her little cottage behind her daughter’s home, and the dinners she cooked and hosted for family and friends. She also always had a book she was either working on or publishing, in addition to an article, blog post, or neighborhood newsletter she was writing. She was prolific, well-organized, productive, and generous in her comments and encouragement to her fellow writers. Not only did she respond to my daily blog posts, but she also commented several times a day in our Work-in-Progress group. In short, she was focused and full of passion for the writing life and all who were in it.

Judy is well-recognized for her literary pursuits. According to Goodreads, she has published over 139 books, many of them mysteries or stories about women in the American West. She has been honored by induction into the Western Writers of America Literary Hall of Fame and has received awards from the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame as well as the Texas Institute of Letters. She was also elected to the Fort Worth Public Library Literary Hall of Fame. Before all of that, she worked for thirty years at a small university press, twenty of those years as its director. Needless to say, she brought a depth and breadth of literary knowledge to every conversation, along with an abundance of down-to-earth life knowledge.

If I were going to point to one of the women I would love to emulate in her approach to aging, it would be Judy. She lived a full, dynamic, and passion-filled life until pretty close to her dying day. She cultivated new friendships well into her 80s while maintaining longstanding relationships. She had a deep connection to her children and grandchildren and understood the value of cooking and sharing meals as a way to hold people close. She was also fully present in her interactions with others, tuned in to the day-to-day trials that people shared, and was quick to acknowledge life’s challenges. Judy was good at making a person feel heard and understood. A quality that doesn’t go unnoticed when that person is you.

I feel fortunate to have had the chance to spend quality time with Judy. I will hold her close in my heart until it’s my time to shuffle off this mortal coil. I deeply admired her kind heart, quick mind, and constant curiosity, and I hope I can live my life even half as well as she has lived hers. To me, she serves as the quintessential role model for living a purpose-filled life.

May light perpetual shine upon you, my friend.