A Need to Read—Judy Nielsen

A Need to Read

Judy Nielsen

udy has a “woman’s way of knowing.” She is one of a diverse group of women who is still discovering her identity as a mother, grandmother and wife while pursuing her intellectual prowess. Judy’s passion for the need for children to read and her ability to make learning fun, enabled her to have a very successful career as a teacher. Driven by an insatiable drive, which she attributes to her father’s need to keep working, she went on from a Bachelor of Education to pursue a Masters and finally obtain a PhD.

Growing up with her brother in Alberta, Judy remembers the summers of simplicity. Going to the cabin at the lake, riding in the stand-up boat and driving the Jeep are fond memories of those days. Her brother went on to be a successful man but Judy pursued the field of education. Working in Edmonton, High Level and Blackie, she ended her career in southern Alberta spending 30 years at an elementary school in High River. In her early 50’s she ventured back to the University of Alberta, riding the bus on Sunday to visit her mother, attending school on Monday, returning to work for the remainder of the week and doing her homework on Saturday.

Judy’s dream is to have children taught to read and put methods and multiple intelligences into practice. She recalls a time when she took the drudgery of learning to make it fun. As she was helping a student make brain connections and problem solve, she resorted to crawling out the classroom window. When she attempted to get back into the school, she discovered she was locked out, much to the delight of her student. She had dreams of continuing her work after retirement; however, life got in the way.

Her and her husband still enjoy spending time at their house in the

JOkanagan and have had to shift their focus of retirement because of choices beyond their control. They dearly love their 3 grandchildren and are a close family unit. Judy believes that young families and youth today, especially during the pandemic have been impacted. COVID has destroyed homes and lives, especially during children’s formative years leaving gaps in their education. Adding to social distancing both geographically and physically, people have been unable to socialize and are searching for coping strategies. Finding a spiritual connection is something she is striving for and continuing to develop. Between the flood of 2013, being a caring mother to her two daughters and their families, driven by her need to never stop, Judy continues to be a caregiver. Her doctorate work was researching the shift in identity as a teacher and at the age of 75, she is certainly living her thesis.