Judith A. Kabara

Judith Ann Kabara died peacefully on August 9, surrounded by many of her loved ones, including Donald, her husband of 53 years, and her best friend of 46 years, Gail Thomas. A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, September 1, 2018 at St. Joseph Catholic Church (1619 Washington St.), Grafton. The family will receive friends and family on Saturday at the church, from 9:00AM until 10:45AM, with Mass at 11:00 AM. Following the mass, all guests are invited for lunch from 12-1:45 at the church. Those who wish may join the family for burial at 2:00 pm at St. Joseph’s cemetery, 1201 4th Av., Grafton. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Los Toros Foundation would be appreciated. Judy studied at St. Mary's Academy, and Cardinal Stritch University; she enjoyed lifelong learning, taking classes at U.W. of Milwaukee, and Marquette. In her early twenties, she worked at Allen Bradley in Milwaukee, enjoyed bowling and card games, married Don, moved to Virginia for her husband’s service in the army, back to Wisconsin, settling in Grafton in May, 1972. There Judy became involved in many activities at St. Joseph’s Church, including running a parish Fish Fry, Bible Study, RCIA program, and a monthly meal at St. Benedict’s in Milwaukee to feed the homeless. She also strongly supported the parish’s Los Toros Mission. In all her work, she expressed her passion for social justice, becoming a dedicated volunteer at MAP (Milwaukee Aids Project). She was also an extremely proud owner of the Green Bay Packers, an amazing cook, a supporter of local food before it was even cool, and, even though she would deny being “crafty”, loved to crochet and sew for all her children and grandchildren. She was born in Milwaukee on November 11, 1940, the daughter of Benedict and Angeline Gruszynski (Mickolajczak) (both deceased), sister of Russell (Josephine) (both deceased) and Howard (Phyllis). She was the mother of Dr. Joseph (Dr. Elizabeth), Andrew (Jane), Kiya (Michael) Pressman, Matthew (Serena), Timothy (Alicia), Jean (Aaron) Cacali, and Thomas (Isabelle Bilodeau); grandmother of Emily, Alexandria, Sarin, Eli, Ella, Isabelle, Sylvia, Helena, Harrison, Margot, and Sophie; stepgrandmother of Duane (Heather) and Bryan (Lisa); step great grandmother of Thomas, Kelsey, Kevin, Zachary, Christopher, Noah, Anthony, Waylan, and Isabella; and step great great grandmother of Heidi, Cole, Brinley, and Hadley. She was sister-in-law to Sister Mary Corinne Kabara, Carol Kabara, John (Helen) Kabara, Michael (Dolores) Kabara and Mary (Henry) Cieslewicz. Her extended family included many aunts and uncles, nieces, nephews, many cousins, and many friends. Judy was a dynamic, social, passionate person. In some ways eccentric, she loved people, she loved life, she enjoyed everything there was to enjoy and cried freely about life’s pains and worries. She wasn’t a saint, but at times she was superhuman in her energy, her patience, her commitment to caring for her children and her volunteer work. She never thought of people she helped as less fortunate, but simply as friends in her all-encompassing idea of community. She appreciated each person for who they were and was intolerant only of intolerance. She inspired us to sing beautifully or off-key, to recover from mistakes, to not be serious about silly things, and to take a strong stand when needed. She will be remembered and missed as a strong, smart, warm person, the likes of which we don’t meet every day.