Page 60 - LBHS Reunion Album V3_Neat

Judith Davis Wigdortz

I am a true “Jersey Girl!” After graduating from Montclair State, with a degree in
English (as a result of the inspiration of the most amazing teacher I have ever met, Edna
Ross), I married Larry Wigdortz (APHS ’62) and started teaching at Ocean Township
HS. Interestingly, we rented our first apartment on West End Ave, and Carol Christopher
Quirk (my 10th grade English teacher) and her husband were our landlords!

In 1973 our son, Brett, was born (my second son, Evan, was born in 1978) and I quit
teaching to become a full time mom. However, I soon realized that I missed the
classroom and, when I was offered a position to teach part-time at Monmouth Regional
HS, I grabbed it and stayed there for 27 years. During my time there, I created a
Humanities/AP course, got two MAs and, also, became very involved in Holocaust
education.

In 1987, I was awarded a grant to spend five weeks studying in Israel, with educators
from around the world, an experience that changed me in so many ways. At 55, I decided
to retire from MRHS and move on to teaching English at Monmouth University. In
2001, Brett moved to London (after living in Jakarta and Singapore) so having a
university schedule allowed us to travel (especially many times to the UK after our first
granddaughter was born in 2006). Tragically, however, Larry developed a neurological
disease that resulted in his death, at 67, in 2011. We had been married 42 years and I had
never been alone.

However, teaching at MU, traveling, weekly calls to Sharon Golden Cohen and my five
grandchildren (three in London and two in Eatontown) have helped me to adjust to a new
stage of my life. I am still living in Monmouth County and still truly appreciate this
amazing area!