Remembering Judd in happier times

May 5—When the death of country singer Naomi Judd was reported last weekend, a lot of people in Owensboro remembered a happier time in May 1994, when she came to town to speak at the grand opening of a $45 million renovation and expansion of what was then Owensboro-Daviess County Hospital.

As she spoke beneath a tent in the parking lot along Parrish Avenue, she told of her life as an unwed mother, a welfare mother, a battered woman, a registered nurse, a country singer, an author and a survivor.

I guess that last word is what hurts the most in looking at her life.

Because in the end, she couldn't survive her mental illness.

But 28 years ago, Judd was an evangelist for inner healing, preaching a gospel of hope to hundreds of area fans.

Her recording career had been cut short four years earlier with a diagnosis of hepatitis — a potentially life-threatening disease.

But in 1994, it was in remission, she said, as she walked through the crowd, joking, signing autographs and shaking hands.

"Doctors are not gods," she told the crowd that day. "Medical books are not Bibles. This universe runs on spiritual laws. You have to step out in faith. Pray the answer. Don't ever pray the problem."

The mind, Judd said, controls the body.

"Heal the people, not just the disease," she urged doctors. "When people have peace of mind, they have everything."

Judd had been in town a year earlier to speak to about 500 nursing students at the Kentucky Association of Nursing Students convention at the Executive Inn Rivermont.

She encouraged the students to be active, not passive, when it came to their own health care.

"You've got to be a participant," the country music star and former nurse told them.

Judd told the future nurses, "'I want y'all to remember when you leave here today, it pays to believe in miracles."

Words like those hurt in the memories of those who heard them so long ago.

To paraphrase a country song, "go rest high on that mountain, Naomi, your work on earth is done."

And you did more than just entertain us.

Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301 klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com