Judy Colvin, 78, was a 'good woman,' 'outstanding Realtor,' fun-loving
Oh, the fun they had.
Susan Stroud can make many trips down memory lane to recall her treasured friendship with Judy Colvin.
Like the time they traveled with a friend by car to Canada, with Colvin on her phone in the back seat "taking a bazillion real estate calls" for houses back in Abilene.
Referring to her friend's brief dental career as the years that Colvin was a lo-gienist. As opposed to being a hygienist.
Or the times couples joined Mike and Terri Burke for a Caribbean sailing adventure, and Colvin's job was to hook a buoy to keep the boat in place overnight.
"She got to be a pretty good hooker," Stroud said. Which was fine with all the buoys.
Fond memories flowed this week. Colvin, 78, died Monday.
A funeral Mass is planned for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Family Catholic Church, where Colvin attended.
"She was loved by every person I knew who knew her," said John Stephens, a friend for more than 20 years.
Friends meet
Stroud and Colvin met soon after the Colvins moved to Abilene in 1978, followed by the Strouds in 1980. Jim Colvin, her husband and former Dallas Cowboys player, had purchased a local Pontiac dealership
Daughters Raquel Colvin and Susanna Stroud graduated together from Cooper High, and the couples' boys, Jim Colvin and John Stroud, played different sports at CHS but the activities united the families.
The girls would play tennis together, Stroud recalled.
Once, Raquel, who played collegiately at SMU, and Judy played in the mother-daughter tournament at the U.S. Open, Stroud said.
The Colvin girls advanced to a sectional tournament in Albuquerque, N.M. in 1983.
Stroud and Colvin also took up golf.
"We had some golf adventures for sure," Stroud said, not elaborating.
Really good Realtor
Colvin made her mark in real estate. She was darned good at it, her friends said. And dedicated.
On that trip to Maine, she worked her phone while they drove to Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, she didn't set her phone to roaming and Colvin "got this horrendous phone bill," Stroud said. "She called me and said, 'Surely I didn't talk that much.'"
It was a good thing she sold a few houses on the trip so she could pay the bill, Stroud said.
Stephens met Colvin in 2000, when she worked at Remax.
Before real estate, she was a flight attendant for Braniff Airlines. Selling houses, however, is where her career took off.
"She was an outstanding Realtor," Stephens said.
Colvin first worked for Senter Realtors here before her 30 years with Remax. Daughter Raquel assisted Colvin for years, Stephens added.
During her career, Colvin served on the board of directors and the executive committee of the Abilene Association of Realtors and was president of the Women’s Council of Realtors.
She was named Abilene Realtor of the Year.
After retiring from real estate and taking care of aging family, Stephens opened an estate sale firm.
"Judy referred clients to me," Stephens said. That went well but she talked him back into real estate since he had a license. She then was working at Diamond Properties, only recently retiring. He joined this group of local Realtors.
"We got to hanging out all the time and helping each other back and forth," he said.
Taking care of each other
When Colvin was diagnosed with cancer, "we were just devastated," Stephens said.
He stepped in to take his friend to doctor's appointments.
"We talked to each other every morning, we talked every night before we went to bed and I saw her five to 10 times a day," he said.
Her declining health, he said, didn't take away from her spirit.
"She was the most remarkable lady ever," he said. "She would give her heart. A heart bigger than gold."
Stroud said it was Colvin who cared for her when she was in the hospital for six weeks with COVID in 2021.
"We have just been there for each other," Stroud said.
Colvin was a breast cancer survivor.
Supported Abilene
Both Stephens and Stroud noted Colvin's fondness for furry friends.
She would buy a table each year for the Fur Ball fundraiser, "and invite all her friends," Stroud said.
Once honored at the event, Colvin adopted a dog known to all as Dixie Dog.
Colvin did this for other events, too.
"Any board, anything she could be on, she supported everything in Abilene," Stephens said. "Anything that was a charity, the Fur Ball or Dancing with the Stars, she'd buy a table for it."
Stephens added that Colvin "had a good time wherever she went."
One place, back in the day, was the Ponderosa Ballroom (now Guitars & Cadillacs), the south-side country dancehall.
Stroud said the girls would go out Thursday nights.
Once, Colvin met a man from Lueders. They scooted their boots a few times and he wanted to ask her out.
She told him, Stroud said, that she didn't date.
Well, how about coffee? Get some breakfast?
She told him, Stroud said, that she didn't eat.
It was her way to telling him she came to dance and that's all.
"Everybody thinks she was weird, and she was," Stroud said, laughing. "She had a definite idea of what she liked and what she didn't like."
She liked watching Fox News but, Stroud said, she did not like "fat straws."
Once, on another road trip, this time to Iowa where Colvin was born, Stroud would not get a soft drink at McDonald's when they took a rest stop because the straw was too fat.
"Have I ever noticed the size of straw? No," Stroud said. "She said, 'I only go to McDonald's in the morning because you don't drink coffee with a straw.'"
'She was a good woman'
Colvin's community involvement ranged from the Buffalo Gap Art Festival to organizing a spring event at Holy Family.
Colvin also was a member of Los Aficionados, the volunteer support group of Abilene Fine Arts Museum, which today is The Grace Museum.
She was involved, too, with the Center for Contemporary Arts and Noah Project.
Despite personal losses in her own life, Colvin "put on a happy face," Stroud said.
Carrying her friend through was "her faith and her ability to make friends," she said.
That could go back to cooking meals for nuns at Mount Loretto Catholic High School in Iowa.
"Her work ethic started very early," Stroud said. "She was a good woman. A woman of her word."
Greg Jaklewicz is editor of the Abilene Reporter-News and general columnist. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Judy Colvin, 78, was a 'good woman,' 'outstanding Realtor,' fun-loving
