Obituary of Judith Marie Gordy

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Judith Marie Kanner Gordy, age 80, of South Orange passed away Thursday, August 29, 2024, at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, New Jersey after a long battle with cancer.

A visitation will be held on Thursday September 5^th from 9-10AM at The Preston Funeral Home, 153 South Orange Ave., South Orange, New Jersey. A Funeral Mass will follow at 10:30 AM at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 217 Prospect St., South Orange. Additional funeral services will be held on Tuesday September 10^th in Blythe, California, with visitation at Frye Chapel at 9AM, funeral mass at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church at 11AM and followed by interment in Palo Verde Cemetery there.

Mrs. Gordy was born in Coffeyville, Kansas and shortly thereafter moving with her parents, Clarence and Ruth Jaime, to San Bernardino California, where she grew up with her brother Andy and sister Teresa along with brothers John and Paul Jaime. She later lived in various places in southern California, including San Bernardino, La Quinta, Blythe, and San Diego, and most recently in New Jersey in West Orange and then moving to South Orange 7 years ago. Her interest in science started in grade school.  Judy was a participant in the 1961 National Science Fair and a finalist in the 1962 Science Talent Search, where she first met her current husband, Leonard Gordy. After graduating from Pacific High School in San Bernardino in 1962, she joined the Immaculate Heart Order living in convents in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara California. While there, she received an associate’s degree and started teaching grade school science. Judy went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sociology from University of California Riverside. She then taught high school science at Palo Verde High School in Blythe, California, where she lived for eighteen years with her first husband, John Kanner Sr., (a public defender for Riverside County) and her son John Kanner (Jack). During this time, she earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy at the University of Arizona and was a pharmacist in Blythe, California, and then for the State of California in prison facilities in Blythe and later for a veteran’s home in Chula Vista, California.  In addition to her professional activities, she conducted extensive research concerning her first husband's grandfather, the Austrian artist Emil Ranzenhofer.

She is survived by her husband Leonard Howard Gordy, son John M. Kanner (Jack), grandsons John M. Kanner Jr. and Justin Kanner, as well as her sister Teresa Castillo along with her uncles Jim and Dan and aunt Barbara as well as many nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband John Kanner Sr.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Our Lady of Sorrows Church Choir, which she enjoyed very much being a part of, would be appreciated.