Judy K. Bowden:
CLASS OF 1968
Lowell High SchoolClass of 1968
Lowell, MA
Brevard Community CollegeClass of 1974
Cocoa, FL
Daley Junior High SchoolClass of 1965
Lowell, MA
Hugh J. Molloy Elementary SchoolClass of 1962
Lowell, MA
Judy K.'s Story
Life
Met my husband at Logan Airport, 12/30/1973. We only met because there was a bomb on the plane! True story!!! Ask me some time. Just celebrated 41 yrs of marriage this past October.
My son Chris is twenty-six and loves movies, movies, movies, still. Since serving an honorable mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my son has become engaged to a lovely young woman from Brazil. My daughter, Jennifer lives in Maryland with her hubby, Chris (yes I have two Christopher's to deal with, but her hubby's family has three Jennifer's) They have a nice little business that he is now expanding into surrounding counties. I fully retired from my accounting-tax service a couple of years ago and I'm enjoying working on my home and volunteering for my church. Volunteering mostly consists of teaching family history and transporting missionaries around our home mission district of Orlando.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that the most important thing in my life is family. I have six siblings, one, my brother Skip, passed away in 2001. I have twelve nephews, nine nieces, four grand-nieces, and numerous first cousins, second cousins and the like. When we all get together we are a small town that could be a part of the United Nations. We represent, China, Philippines, Canada, France, Ireland, Scotland, and American Indians. I spend as much time with extended family as possible, but because I live the farthest away, it isn't often enough for me.
I haven't lived in Lowell since shortly after graduation from high school. I have been in Florida since early 1973. None of my immediate family lives in Lowell any longer. Most of them live in New Hampshire, one lives in upstate Vermont. My Aunt Lee passed away a few years ago, but her daughter's family still lives in Lowell. I still have a few cousins living in the Lowell area, so I get back there usually every couple of years or so.
Since my husband retired a few years ago, we have done some traveling. We particularly like the northwest, although walking the beaches in Mexico isn't bad either. We hope to do more traveling once we get my son through college.
School
I didn't like high school much, I was just too mature for my age. I had a lot of responsibilities when I was in school. I looked after several younger siblings and took care of the house while my mom worked. So, it didn't leave much time for a decent social life. I guess when I look back on high school what I remember most is that I got through it.
College
College for a married couple is so much different than it is for those who get to go when single!!! We worked different shifts, him during the day, me at night. So of course we never took any classes together. We had more incentive to get through it with better grades. That didn'...Expand for more
t mean that we didn't party, we just didn't do it as often as our single classmates did.
Workplace
Ahhh, the workplace. I started working in high school, first I worked a full time job during my junior and senior year as a nurses aide at Deauville Manor. I worked second shift after school, got home usually at 11:30 each night. It was a good job, and taught me the value of the elderly. My grandparents died either before I was born or shortly thereafter, so these old folks taught me a thing or two about life. The great thing about this job was that most of the elderly were asleep by nine o'clock in the evening which gave me time to do my homework.
After high school I went to work in one of the old shoe factories there in Lowell as a payroll clerk, I can't remember the name of the place, I just remember that they made sneakers there. After marrying my first husband, we moved to Portland, Maine. There I went to work for a linotype company, I worked in accounts payable for a Mr. Hymie Kroot, let's just say that it was a real eye opener working for this man. Shortly after working there I divorced my first husband.
After my second husband moved me to Florida for a better education, I went to work in a temp agency hiring out to companies in need or replacing employees on a short term basis. I found out that I was highly under employed, and greatly over-skilled.
When I divorced the second husband and married the third, I decided it was time to become self-employed, so I started my own accounting and tax business. For over thirty years I managed accounts and taxes for all kinds of people and businesses, some small and some large, some corporations, some mom-and-pop operations. Some companies I handled everything, including handling all money transactions. At one time, I was running payroll for over twenty-five companies in Orlando. I was running computers out of my home when most people didn't know what a personal computer was. But most of my time now is spent teaching family history to the world.
Hmmm, a childhood memory I will never forget, was playing with my cousins and siblings in the field across the street from our house. We were scaling the rock wall that separated the houses on Westford Street from the ones on Marshall Street. I got about three to four feet off the ground when I lost my footing and slipped. I fell on the rocks below and split the back of my head open. I remember my cousin holding her hands firmly over the wound as she led me across the street all the while assuring me that I wasn't badly injured, that in fact it was just a scrape. When the ambulance arrived I then realized that I was more severely injured than Donna had led on. Several stitches at the hospital convinced me I was right. I even made the Lowell Sun newspaper!!!
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