Judy Carol Martz

Judy Carol Martz, 82, of Highlands Ranch died April 10 of Multiple Systems Atrophy, an aggressive variant of Parkinsons disease.

Judy was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 22, 1943; her family was in Portsmouth for her father to weld on submarines during WWII. The family returned to North Texas in 1944. Judy grew up in Wichita Falls and graduated in 1961.She knew her future husband, Rev Harvey Martz, from High school. And they were married after college graduation in 1965. During Rev Martz's graduate school education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas Judy taught English in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School system. Judy completed her Master's degree in Education a few years later and taught High School English in several public-school systems.

Judy and Harvey moved to Highlands Ranch in 1995 when Dr Martz was assigned to be the Lead Pastor in St Andrew United Methodist Church. In their 18 years of leadership at St Andrew Judy was intensely involved in adult education. One of her roles was as an adult class teacher of Theology and Bible.

The more visible role was to be a co-leader with her husband in traveling in ten separate trips to the lands of the Bible. Both Harvey and Judy considered it important to lead church members beyond a third grade Sunday School education so they co-created curriculum for on-site adult theological education in Israel (six trips with 200 persons), Greece, Turkey, Italy, and England. The number of traveler/pilgrims in those journeys totaled over 300.

Judy was a respected and admired mother of Meredith and Todd. She traveled with Meredith from the age of eleven to various cities to visit art museums and traveling exhibits in Chicago, Los Angeles, and DC. Those trips instilled in Meredith a life-long appreciation for the visual arts and design.

In a broader educational role, she became a passionate Disability Advocate with a world-wide vison that worked for the best life possible for youth and adults with any physical or intellectual disability ranging from Autism to Cerebral Palsy. The earliest public role of advocacy began when she and another English teacher created the Peak Parent Center which has advocated for 70,000 children, youth, and adults with disabilities in Colorado since they began the organization in 1986.

Her next very visible advocacy role was to become President of the National Down Syndrome Congress (actually an international group) which educates families and youth toward the most inclusive roles in typical public life. One result of her vision was to begin a Hispanic outreach effort for families with a disabled member which now has grown to serve Spanish speaking families across the world: in Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and other nations.

Her vision of inclusion has had another outcome: when son Todd was 18, Judy’s vision was for him to be with typical young adults meeting and hanging out. The place of choice was The Colorado College in Colorado Springs where Todd expanded from working in the student center to meeting and eating lunch with the Beta Omega chapter of Kappa Sigma.

Todd’s relation to the fraternity developed such that the fraternity invited him to come through Rush and to join them. This was highly unusual since Todd had Down Syndrome and was not a student, but it worked so well that when a Gazette Telegraph staff member learned about it, it evoked two full pages of newspaper coverage with photos. That publicity was discovered by a reporter for NBC News, and that contact developed into national news story on the Today show with an audience of several million viewers-a story that is still available on Youtube (Todd Martz, Beta Omega).

That unusual example of Judy’s vision of brotherhood and welcome, and the inclusion of persons who are “different “came from Judy’s deep theological underpinnings and also reflects the values in novelist Michael Connelly’s fictional detective: EITHER EVERYBODY COUNTS, OR NOBODY COUNTS.

Judy was always an avid reader of fiction, poetry, and news. Until the last few weeks, Judy and Harvey enjoyed reading the hard copy of the NYTIMES together every day, discussing news articles and opinion pieces

Judy’s ongoing model of transformational leadership was recognized in her home congregation of St Andrew Church where church leaders recently dedicated the Sanctuary stained glass window in honor of Judy and Harvey Martz.

Judy is survived by her husband, Rev Harvey Martz, daughter Meredith Martz Luttrell, son in law Greg Luttrell, Sister-in-law Evangeline Gant (Larry), niece Cheray Gant,

She was preceded in death by son Todd Gregory Martz, and by her brother Jeff Johnston.

Memorial gifts may be given to any of Judy’s favorite projects at St Andrew United Methodist Church, 9203 S. University Blvd, Highlands Ranch Colorado, 80126: St Andrew Youth Ministry, St Andrew Music Ministry, or the St Andrew Marketplace.

A service of Memory and Thanksgiving for Judy’s life will be at 2 PM Friday April 24 at St Andrew United Methodist Church, 9203 University Blvd, Highlands Ranch CO 80126