Eleanor M. ‘Judy’ Waters, Roland Park Country School educator for more than 50 years, dies

Eleanor M. “Judy” Waters, an educator for more than 50 years at Roland Park Country School, died Dec. 27 of heart failure at the Pickersgill Retirement Community in West Towson. The former longtime resident of Tunbridge Road in Homeland was 90.

“She will be remembered not only for her professional accomplishments, but also for her personal dedication to the artistic, academic and athletic growth of RPCS students,” wrote Caroline Blatti, head of school, in a message to the school’s alumnae announcing Ms. Waters’ death.

“Judy is well known and deeply respected for her high ideals and expectations and a willingness to go above and beyond to see that her students reach their potential … By all accounts, Judy was determined and assertive, but also kind and friendly. Her rigorous commitment to art instruction encouraged students across the spectrum of styles and talents and they were eager to give their best in return,” Ms. Blatti wrote.

Eleanor Murray Waters, daughter of Murray G. Waters, an engineer, and Eleanor Richardson Waters, a homemaker and longtime Red Cross volunteer, was born in Baltimore and raised on Park Avenue in downtown Baltimore, and later Keswick Road in Roland Park.

Throughout her life, Ms. Waters was known as “Judy.”

“Someone misheard her name and called her Judy and she liked the way it sounded, so she kept it, and obviously her parents went along with it,” said Amy Barrett Frew, a niece, who lives in Naples, Florida.

“Judy was the youngest of three children, independent, knew her own mind, and paid attention to detail,” her niece said.

“She was a fiercely independent woman,” said Allen McCullough “Mac” Barrett Jr., a nephew, of Towson.

A 1950 graduate of Roland Park Country School, Ms. Waters earned a bachelor’s degree in 1954 from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

She then returned to Roland Park Country School where she remained for more than 50 years teaching art and physical education.

“She was caring and treated everyone as an individual and helped them create and nurture their artistic side,” Ms. Frew said. “She always created a warm environment and made people feel comfortable and she made each girl feel so special.”

For more than half a century, until retiring in 2014, Ms. Waters had been director of the school’s Living Reproduction tableaux which is a feature of the school’s Christmas program.

In the 19th century, tableaux based on classic paintings and sculptures were popular with wealthy families in the United States.

Ms. Waters’ association with Living Reproductions began when she was an eighth grader in 1945 and volunteered to help paint a tableaux under the direction of art teacher Elizabeth Winn, and eventually became director of the project.

Living Reproductions, founded in 1922, is a tradition in “which students pose in elaborate costumes to re-create paintings and sculptures that tell the Christmas story,” reported The Baltimore Sun in 1999.

“Nerves of steel, that’s what Judy Waters demands of students she chooses for Roland Park Country School’s holiday tableaux,” observed the newspaper.

“She starts preparations weeks in advance — painting backdrops, buying materials and sewing costumes,” according to The Sun. “Then there are the actors. To find them Waters scours the school cafeteria for girls with just the right look to play an awed shepherd, a joyous angel or a pensive Mary.”

Preparations took painstaking hours as hair was coiffed, and when needed, beards, were applied and trimmed.

It was also physically demanding as actors were required to sit, kneel or stand behind a gilded frame while holding their poses and barely breathing for at least three minutes.

“We don’t talk about being nervous because we’re not allowed to have that,” Ms. Waters told The Sun. “They learn fast, they better.”

“There was a lot of practice and seeing how they could pose. They also had to be as still as they possibly could,” said Ms. Frew, a 1972 RPCS graduate, who worked with her aunt on the annual Christmas production. “It was a tradition the whole school held dear and was really fun to do.”

In her own artistic life, Ms. Waters designed and made jewelry, and also sketched and painted landscapes mainly in oils and acrylics.

“She always liked to present things in a lovely way because she was an artist,” Ms. Frew said.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Ruck Towson Funeral Home at 1050 York Road.

In addition to Mr. Barrett and Ms. Frew, she is survived by four other nieces and 14 great nieces and nephews.