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Rev Judy Downing: |
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Judy K. (Wehrle) Downing has returned to her
home town of Ludington. She had previously
served at Gobles-Kendall UMC for 11 years, then
Marshall UMC and Lyons-Muirs and Easton UMC
churches in Michigan. |
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Judy grew up at Arcadia Resort on Upper
Hamlin Lake and went to Nordhouse School on
Jebavy Road. When her family moved to town she
attended Lakeview and Longfellow schools and
from there she went to the old Ludington High
School. She grew up attending the Ludington UMC
until she moved away when she got married and
then attended the UMC in Hobart, Indiana. |
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She went to Garritt-Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Before Judy went
into full-time ministry, she was the executive
director of the South Haven Chamber of Commerce,
executive director of the Van Buren County
American Red Cross, campaign manager for the 4th
district congressional campaign and a Van Buren
County Judicial Campaign. |
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Before she went into full time ministry, she
had a youth group in Olathe, Kansas of only four
youths that grew into 148. When she and her
husband moved to South Haven, Michigan, she
again started with four youths, and that group
grew to 50. |
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That is where she met Eileen Torrey. Eileen
Torrey offered to help her while she and the
Rev. Wm. Torrey were at south Haven UMC. This
would be the beginning of Eileen’s youth
ministry, which she brought to Ludington when
they were appointed to pastor here in the 1970s.
One of her youth was the Rev. Barry Petruccy,
also from Ludington, who is now the pastor
serving at Portage Chapel Hill in Portage,
Michigan. |
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Though she lived away from her home for many
years, she and her family returned almost every
summer and now she has moved back to stay. She
most recently came to us from being active in
the Green Valley UMC in Green Valley, Arizona. |
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Her sister, Carol (Wehrle) Bennett — married
to Bruce Bennett — and her family have stayed
and grown up. Their mother was Mary Lou Wehrle-Armstrong,
who worked for the Maritime Union and was known
to do the hiring for the car ferries since the
1940s and 1950s. |
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Judy knows that one of her greatest
blessings has been the opportunity to grow up in
Ludington, but also to be able to return here
and work for her home church. |
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Patti Klevorn, LDN, August 11, 2017 |
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