Judith Little Frew of Woodbury, the beloved wife of Allan L. Whitey Frew, died on August 26, 2012, at home after a long illness. She was 85. Born in Waterbury on September 27, 1926, she was the daughter of John Chester Little and Ruth Forsyth Little. After graduating from Crosby High School in 1944, she earned a bachelor's degree in American literature from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1948, and years later pursued a master's degree in American literature at Southern Connecticut State University.
After college Judy was an assistant editor at Simon & Schuster in New York, working on Golden Books for children and on one of James Beard's earliest cookbooks. In 1949 she married her Middlebury classmate, Whitey Frew, and they lived in Brooklyn and Philadelphia before moving to Woodbury in 1951.
Judy was passionately involved in her community. Her extensive career as a volunteer included serving as president of Planned Parenthood of Connecticut; as president of the Waterbury YWCA, which her mother had co-founded; and as vice president of the Women's Auxiliary at Waterbury Hospital. During World War II, she volunteered at the rehabilitation center for wounded and blind veterans at the Avon school. She was also an active participant in the Junior League of Waterbury and the League of Women Voters; and for many years she gave free piano lessons to inner-city children from Waterbury. At age 65 Judy became an emergency medical technician and served on the newly-formed Woodbury Volunteer Ambulance Corps. She also volunteered with like-minded colleagues at the former Waterbury Hospital abortion clinic. In addition to her volunteer activities, she taught English briefly at Woodbury High School, and served on the Advisory Board of The Banking Center, formerly the Waterbury Savings Bank. An ardent feminist, almost before the word was coined, Judy was forthright and known for speaking her mind, and her children nicknamed her Ms. , a moniker also used by her seven grandchildren. Judy was a serious reader who loved to talk about books. She recalled returning home from college on vacations and discussing her classes in detail with her father, who never attended college himself, but read everything assigned for her courses--conversations she later described with great love and delight.
Judy continued her interest in music throughout her life, studying piano with a number of teachers, and giving lessons to less advanced students. She would lead the singing at Christmas and Thanksgiving from the piano, insisting on some of the more beautiful and obscure carols such as Jesus Christ, The Apple Tree