Judith Lynn Campbell Bird, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, friend, and colleague, died at home in Chevy Chase, Maryland on June 27, 2024 after a short but intense battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, C. Coleman Bird, and their daughter Garren Campbell Bird, her husband Benjamin Martin and their children Olivia and Frazer, her brother Lewis Eugene Campbell, and many much-loved cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Judy – as she was known to all – was born on April 16, 1945 in Bonne Terre, Missouri, the daughter of Reverend Cecil H. Campbell and Jewell Marie Lewis Campbell. She was proud to be a part of a long line of strong pioneer women and, like her mother, had a keen interest in family history and lore. She grew up in both Missouri and North Carolina, graduating from New Bern High School and Salem College in Winston Salem, NC with a BS in Chemistry.
It was at Salem that Judy had her first taste of politics when she got involved in student government electioneering at the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This developed into a lifelong passion and calling, leading her to move to Washington, D.C. to organize for the National Student Association, become active in the antiwar movement, and then for most of her career to focus on the politics and policy issues of environmental protection, primarily water quality. She lobbied for the Clean Water Act, worked for the National Commission on Water Quality, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, and later as a communications and policy consultant for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment program (NAWQA).
In all these roles she became known for her exceptional skills at project management, planning, organization, and execution. She made sure that the great work done by USGS’s scientists did not remain buried in research reports but instead made an impact on environmental policy and regulation. When she retired, NAWQA gave her a plaque recognizing her “relentless persistence” in pursuing their goals.
This would not have come as a surprise to anyone who knew her. She displayed the same combination of vision, organizational skills, and determination when planning family vacations and milestone events (birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, Garren and Ben’s wedding, retirements and more…really any excuse for a party). Like her mom, she made every holiday an occasion for joy and celebration with family and friends. Her Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were the stuff of legend. A self-taught master of travel planning, she meticulously arranged all of the family’s wonderful trips to Greece, Italy, France, Australia, Thailand, and of course more recently to England to see her beloved grandchildren.
She was never unduly influenced by rules, regulations, or convention, regarding them not as insurmountable obstacles, but more as opportunities for creative problem solving. She was always there for Garren and her friends to talk about whatever was on their minds. She was a matchless mentor to numerous younger women as they came of age in a workplace culture that was not always receptive to their full participation and ideas. She was also one tough lady. When a debilitating case of chronic fatigue syndrome left her unable to work, and the doctors had no treatments to offer, she fought her way back to better health by sheer willpower. She did this while at the same time managing the household, starting her solo consulting practice, and providing indispensable assistance to Coleman’s parents and her own in their final years.
She was also no stranger to good times. She was never happier than when basking in the sun, listening to “that old time rock’n’roll” or Motown, dancing with her husband (she was always the first one out on the dance floor), or enjoying a glass or two with family and friends. She created a beautiful, calm, engaging home. She was blessed with an extraordinary sense of confidence and self-belief without an ounce of arrogance. A passionate booster for her daughter and grandchildren, she was heard to echo her own mother in saying how sorry she felt for all the other mothers and grandmothers out there. She will be deeply missed.
There will be a service to celebrate her life at St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on Thursday, July 25, at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution in her name to an organization working to preserve our democracy or the environment, or to a charity of your choice.
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