Judy Elhard

May 23, 1947 – December 22, 2023

Judy Kay Elhard, 76, of Rio Rancho, NM, 'went home for Christmas' on December 22, 2023. She was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota on May 23, 1947 to Lloyd Leslie and Carol Jane (Pedersen) Jarman. She spent her early years on the family farm near Larimore, ND and attended school in Larimore and Grand Forks, ND.  She met and married her husband, Lowell, at the University of North Dakota, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and music in 1969. After her daughter was born, she taught music and art to Montessori students in Racine and Milwaukee, WI; she led 'backyard Bible clubs' with Child Evangelism Fellowship in Wauwatosa, WI and Bismarck, ND; she tutored home-schooled students at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, WI; and she taught piano and oboe lessons. She then employed her art and musical abilities as a full-time activity therapist at nursing homes in Milwaukee and New Berlin, WI, where she also cared for her mother, who suffered from Lewy body dementia.  Judy and Lowell retired to New Mexico, joining her daughter and son-in-law there, in 2015.

Having learned harmonies as a child from her grandmother, Judy enjoyed singing in groups at church, at nursing homes, and at home with friends. She loved playing the guitar, piano, English horn, and oboe, including duets with her trumpet-playing husband. As an oboist, she performed for many years with the Elmbrook Church orchestra and with several community orchestras in North Dakota, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. She particularly enjoyed attending and participating in holiday performances of Handel's Messiah, proclaiming the biblical story of salvation through Jesus Christ, her savior: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep" (Job 19:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:20).

Judy was preceded in death by her parents and is survived by her brother, John Jarman (Carol Windels) of Fargo, ND; her sister, Jane Solberg (Ronald Solberg) of Louisburg, NC; her husband, Lowell Elhard; and her daughter, Kathryn Coe (Joshua Coe) of Rio Rancho, NM.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church Rio Rancho, NM, at a date to be announced later.