Judy Ann Hove Harding
JUDY ANN HOVE HARDING
Judy Ann Hove Harding — a talented teacher, artist and musician and a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, in-law, aunt and friend — died at home on Saturday, May 27.
She was born on Nov. 10, 1941, in Wolf Point, Mont., to Irma Alspach Hove and John Hove. She grew up in North Dakota and Montana and graduated from Polson High School in 1959. She started playing the piano and singing as a child and never stopped making music throughout her life.
Judy earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Montana in Missoula in 1963, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and developed friendships that lasted a lifetime. She went on to earn her master’s and doctorate degrees at Montana State University, Bozeman, writing her doctoral thesis on the relationship of music to teaching. Over the years, she also attended intensive language schools, including ones in Montreal, Chicago and France.
Judy met the love of her life, Jay Harding, when she was 14 and he was 16. They married in 1963 and had two children, Jill and John.
Judy devoted her life to education, working primarily in the Helena School District. She began as a French teacher, but expanded to all subjects at kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, adult education, adjunct college instruction, and administration levels. In 1979, she was named the Helena Teacher of the Year, but to many of her students, she was “the teacher of a lifetime.”
In the 1970s, Judy became interested in guitar and songwriting while attending summer workshops at Portland State University’s “Haystack” program at Cannon Beach, Ore. She went on to become renowned for her workshops on teaching guitar, especially to people who don’t read music. She taught workshops for college summer programs, for education conferences, and in her home studio, and hundreds of people can strum and pick because of Judy’s enthusiastic and expert instruction.
Judy also was a talented and prolific potter who was active at the Archie Bray Foundation and Helena’s Art Guild. She and Jay have been collectors of Western art and supporters of exhibitions such as the Western Rendezvous of Art and the Holter Gallery. She made bowls annually for the Friendship Center’s annual Empty Bowls benefit in Helena.
As part of the bicentennial celebrations in 1976, Judy, with her family, acted in a Montana travel film which followed the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In 2001, she served as the school teacher in the PBS production of “Frontier House.” She not only played the part of an 1883 school marm but also kept the children on the set up to date on their current education.
Judy served on the Montana Board of Special Olympics, and personally bought and sent annual Christmas gifts to a Montana mission. With her family, she traveled extensively in Europe and Asia as well as North, Central and South America. She particularly enjoyed her time in France, Uruguay and Argentina, and she enjoyed looking at real estate wherever she traveled.
Judy is survived by so many family members and friends who loved her, including her husband, Sheldon Jay Harding of Helena; her daughter, Jill Harding (Ron Phelps) of Helena; her son, John Harding (Lisa Kozleski) of Lethbridge, Alberta; her treasured grandchildren Jack, Katharine, and Olivia Harding of Lethbridge; her sister, Joan Thompson of Ronan; her sister, Susan Hove-Pabst (Jim Pabst) of Port Angeles, Washington; and many devoted nieces and nephews, in-laws, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents as well as her brother, John B. Hove, and a sister, Sandra Hove.
Memorial service will be held later in the summer.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Judy’s name to Helena Food Share - Lewis Street Pantry; 1616 Lewis Street, P.O. Box 943, Helena, Mont., 59624. Please visit www.retzfuneralhome.com to offer a condolence to the family or to share a memory of Judy.