In Memoriam

Judith Gormley Morgan Woodward '63 The kind of teacher who remembered her former students By Karen Tongue Hammond '64

Judith Gormley Morgan Woodward '63 arrived at UNH intending to become a physician, but soon found Chaucer and Shakespeare more intriguing. In her 35 years of teaching English, Woodward saw great changes, especially in the ways technology brought the whole world into the classroom. But she always understood that, in the end, a good educational experience depends on the relationship between student and teacher.

At UNH, Woodward was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. After graduation, she taught at Sanborn Seminary, where she met her first husband, Frank Morgan. There were interesting dinner discussions when Frank became principal and Judy was the president of the teacher's association. They built a second home on Moosehead Lake in Maine and enjoyed year-round outdoor activities with their children, Tim and Maureen Morgan Obendorfer '86. When Maureen pledged Alpha Chi Omega, Judy slipped into the ceremony to pin her daughter as a sister. It was, Maureen recalls, "a very special moment."

Frank died in 1995, and Judy married a longtime family friend from Moosehead, Larry Woodward. She became his unofficial editorial assistant and researcher, and together they traveled to his writing assignments in North America, the Caribbean and Mexico. Never a shrinking violet, she once wandered into the VIP section at an international polo tournament in Barbados and introduced herself to the American ambassador. She ended up with a personal invitation for herself and Larry to attend a reception for the British governor at the ambassador's residence.

Even after retiring, Woodward never quite shook off her role as an educator. Larry recalls a post-retirement trip to Nevis in the West Indies when his wife, who could have been basking in the sunshine, instead spent time sitting under a palm tree with a local fishing guide's young son, helping him read Winnie-the-Pooh. "Once a teacher, always a teacher," says Larry.

During her career, Woodward introduced more than 2,000 students to the world of literature and writing, and was always delighted to run across them again after they had graduated. And, to her former students' astonishment, says Larry, she almost always remembered their names. "Frequently she would be in a store and have someone come up to her and ask, 'Didn't you used to be Mrs. Morgan?' She would answer, "I'm still Mrs. Morgan. Are you still Emily?"

When they weren't traveling, the couple lived in Florida, where Woodward kept busy, telling friends that she liked to have "three activities planned for every day." She was looking forward to hiking in the Canadian Rockies to celebrate her upcoming 70th birthday when she died in February of complications from food poisoning. At her request, her ashes were spread during a family gathering this summer at Moosehead Lake in Maine.

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