Judith Kay Doorenbos
DOORENBOS, GROENDYKE, VANDERWILT, MOORE, KINGSBURY
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 4/5/2020 at 04:28:44
Judith Kay Doorenbos, née Groendyke, of Iowa City, Iowa passed away at Mercy Hospital Iowa City on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 7:37 a.m. due to complications of sepsis.
Judy was a retired librarian with a gift for languages and a devoted Hawkeyes fan. She is survived by her sister, Shirley Moore of Fredericksburg, Texas; her stepdaughter Linda Kingsbury of Cortlandt Manor, New York; her stepson Robert Doorenbos of New York, New York; and her two grandchildren Nathaniel and Antra-Blake Kingsbury; along with several nieces, nephews, and in-laws.
She was preceded in death by her parents, John Elmer Groendyke and Jeanetta M. VanderWilt Groendyke, her sisters Nancy Groendyke Richard and Virginia Groendyke Doorenbos, and her husband Harold Eugene Doorenbos.
Judy donated her body to the University of Iowa Deeded Body Program. A memorial service will be held at a later date, after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. Burial will be at Oakland Cemetery. Donations in Judy’s memory may be made to the Congregational United Church of Christ in Iowa City, or to a charity of your choice. Service details will be posted when decided.
Born in Pella, Iowa on May 20, 1940, Judy was the youngest in a family of four girls. She attended Pella High School where she received a Good Citizen Award and graduated as salutatorian in 1958. In 1962 she obtained her B.A. degree from Central College, also in Pella, where she had majored in English with minors in Spanish and Latin while working part-time as Secretary to the Registrar. In college she was also active in the Oratorio Chorus, the A Cappella Choir, the Marching Band, the Student Education Association, the Sigma Tau Delta English Society, the Home Economics Society, and served on the staff of the newspaper, the yearbook, and as editor of the Freshman Handbook.
From 1962 to 1965 she worked as a high school Spanish and Latin teacher in Humboldt, Iowa. She spent the summer of 1965 in Guadalajara, Mexico further improving her Spanish, then enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Iowa, where she changed her focus and obtained her M.A. in Library Science in 1968. While in graduate school, she worked part-time at the University of Iowa Library, and after receiving her master’s degree, she began full-time employment as its Spanish and Portuguese cataloger. In 1971 she was appointed Supervisor of the Acquisitions Department Bibliographic Search Unit at the same library, a position she held until she retired in 1997.
Judy was independent and lived life on her own terms. In her twenties and thirties, Judy dated but never married anyone because, she said, the men she met didn’t treat her well -- not the way her older sister Virginia was treated by her husband Harold, for example. But after Virginia died, Judy fell in love with Harold, who was 15 years her senior. Harold hadn’t thought of Judy that way before – when he was dating Virginia, Judy was just the kid sister who begged him for chewing gum – but now he took a second look and he liked what he saw in Judy. They married on October 14, 1989, with Judy saying she hoped they would at least have ten good years together. They did, just barely. They enjoyed traveling to places near and far, and together went through Judy’s successful fight against breast cancer. Harold passed away on May 19, 2000, also of sepsis. Judy was very proud of the stepchildren and grandchildren that she acquired through her marriage to Harold.
Judy was active in the Congregational United Church of Christ, where she sang in the choir, volunteered on the library committee and the music committee, and served on various other church boards. She was also active in the University Club and as a volunteer for the Visiting Nurse Association. After her retirement, she continued her association with the University of Iowa Library as a volunteer, and she maintained her friendships with her co-workers there, often joining them for lunches and other occasions.
Judy suffered from trigeminal neuralgia which caused pain in her face and mouth, and in her later years, from osteoarthritis. The stiffness in her knees led her to stop traveling and to have trouble with stairs and curbs. She moved into independent living at the Oaknoll Retirement Community, where she didn’t have to deal with stairs – and where she enjoyed a spacious room with a beautiful view outside her large picture window. She had a favorite chair there where she could put her feet up and could face both the window and the TV, and in the evenings, she would watch football and basketball, even if the Hawkeyes weren’t playing, but especially if they were. She was kind and took delight in the world, and she will be missed.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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