Judy L. McFarland, of Bartonville, formerly of East Peoria passed away peacefully on Dec. 25, 2023, at the Richard L. Owens Hospice Home with her family by her side.
She was born on June 28, 1951, in Estelline, South Dakota, to Carroll and Beverly (Odom) Anderson. She met Thomas J. McFarland while cruising Main Street in Estelline, and on Sept. 4, 1971, they were married. He preceded her in death on June 10, 2011.
Judy is survived by one daughter, Crystal (Troy) Parker and one granddaughter, Callie, of Dunlap; one sister, Joan (Andy) Carter of Brookings, South Dakota; three brothers: her twin brother, Jerry (Nancy) Anderson of Volga, South Dakota, and brothers David (Kay) Anderson of Sioux City, Iowa and Alan Anderson; brothers-in-law, Dean Buetow of Watertown, South Dakota, and Dennis Graham of McAlister, Oklahoma, and one sister-in-law, Shirley McFarland of Watertown, South Dakota.
She was preceded in death by her parents; in-laws, Harold and Doris McFarland; two brothers, Gene Anderson and Roland Anderson; sisters-in-law, Bonita Graham and Sherry Buetow; brother-in-law Gary McFarland; and nephews Danny Anderson, Jeremy Anderson, and Lee Anderson.
She grew up on a dairy farm in Bruce, South Dakota, with her five brothers and one sister. She won a first place trophy in a tractor pull competition in Arlington with a Farmall H tractor and was very active in the Brookings County 4-H program. She attended Dakota State College and played on their field hockey team. She also attended South Dakota State University and taught Head Start in Watertown, South Dakota.
In 1975, Tom and Judy moved to Peoria, Illinois, for Tom to begin working at the Peoria County Highway Department, where he worked until he retired in 2011. She worked for East Peoria Community High School for 36 years as a secretary. She was a 4-H Leader for 37 years in Tazewell County along with being the 4-H Federation advisor for many of those years. She was a former Sunday School Teacher, Church Clerk, Women’s Fellowship President, and Sunday School Superintendent at Peoria Heights Congregational Church. She was a member of American Business Women. She was active in many card making groups, quilting clubs, Bunco group, and dominoes group.
She was a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She was a five-time cancer survivor and fought hard through all her health struggles while always keeping a positive attitude. She had Hodgkin disease three times, with the first time being when she was just 16, kidney cancer, and breast cancer. Although the radiation treatment of the first round of Hodgkins is what resulted in her health issues later in life with her heart, she was still extremely grateful for the treatment which gave her so many more years of life and allowed her to grow up, get married, and have a daughter. Her greatest joy was her granddaughter.
She was a member of Peoria Heights Congregational Church and Prospect United Methodist Church.
A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2, with visitation one hour prior to the service at Davison-Fulton-Woolsey-Wilton Funeral Home in Peoria. Burial will follow the service at Swan Lake Cemetery.
Memorials may be made the Tazewell County 4-H, American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Richard L. Owens Hospice Home.