Judith Charlene Marxhausen

Judy was born as the second child of Carl and Pearl Johnson on July 9, 1944, and grew up in and around Chisago, Minnesota with her extended family, including her brother Charles, in towns so small that she always knew everyone else’s name and history. She spent the rest of her life trying to make sure that she knew everyone else’s name and history.

She received her degree in education at St. Cloud State in 1966, a degree she had to fight for because she stuttered. She always felt called to teach and spent much of her teaching career in positions that required endless patience, including many special education classrooms, where she knew everyone’s name and history.

In 1978, she married Donald Marxhausen, a single father she met on a blind date, after she fell in love with him and his son Peter, born in 1974 to Don and his first wife Darcy Thomas. Judy and Don had a daughter together, Sarah, in 1980, and a series of Airedale terriers. Finally, Peter married his wife Lara, and the two of them provided Don and Judy with four grandchildren: Luke, Nate, Lexi, and Cynthia. Don and Judy also deeply loved their extended families, including siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Judy continued to work as a paraprofessional for special needs young adults at Heritage High School until 2010, a job which brought her joy. She was active as long as she could be in her churches’ choirs and handbell choirs, as well as volunteering wherever she was needed: washing pots and pans at Street Reach’s homeless meal program, and being a mentor at MOPS/Mothers of Preschoolers. She fought fiercely for years against a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, and the stroke she went through in 2024. She loved gardening, reading, her faith, and almost everyone she ever met.

She was always on the lookout for small ways to make other peoples’ day better and was surrounded by love in return. Before she passed on December 12, 2025 in hospice care, she received an impressive number of visitors, both friends and family who knew how much she loved them. She died without pain, held by family, who would like to pass on their gratitude for the community they’ve been shown.

For those unable to attend, Judy's service will be viewable online at the link below.