In Loving Tribute to Judy Murrah
Judy, as our Vice President for Education and Administration for many years, was an extremely important member of our Executive Committee. But more than that, she was our long-time dear, dear friend, who shared many wonderful times with us, from the early days of our company up until our recent fall shows.
She was an incredible teacher, author, designer, and quilter who shared her knowledge and love of quilting, and of our company and its mission, as well as that of the Texas Quilt Museum, with people both near and far. Her skill with a needle was matched by her skill in planning our International Quilt Festival and International Quilt Market classes and running our Education Department, all backed by her knowledge, experience, and people skills.
Judy will be greatly missed by so many people.
From Nancy O’Bryant,
Executive Vice President, Quilts, Inc.
Some of our Quilts, Inc. history ended when Judy left us, but her legacy will go on through the thousands
of quilting students who have taken classes she selected for our shows, and the good times they have
had in them.
Judy built our Quilts, Inc. Education division from the ground up into a powerhouse that educates 5,000+ students each fall and offers nearly 150 teachers a showcase for their talents, along with the opportunity to build a dedicated following of quilters who will spread the word about them. Judy regarded every teacher as a friend and worked hard year-round to create a supportive environment for them at our shows. Both her office staff and her show staff were devoted to her, professionally and personally, and
she to them.
So we will miss her as a professional colleague who was with us for many years, both in the U.S. and overseas during the 20 years of our European shows.
But I will miss her as one of my dearest friends, someone who thought I was funny, couldn't carry a tune, shared a love of tea (Earl Grey ONLY for my friend, Judy!), and enjoyed tea time, with champagne of course, in many, many beautiful tearooms, including the Ritz in London, the Hotel des Indes in Den Haag, and the wonderfully traditional tearoom at Brown's, before it redecorated. We were flexible, though, and also loved chocolate Afrique at Angelina's in Paris and—let us not forget—amaretto freezes all over the U.S. Such memories…and such fun, with Judy!