Judy Wright Matchett

Matchett—Judy Wright Matchett, 97, peacefully on April 4, 2023, in Olympia, Wash. Judy was born on July 10, 1925, in Philadelphia, Pa. Her father was a Quaker, serving as an accountant at the University of Pennsylvania. He later worked for American Friends Service Committee, spending years with the workcamp program until retirement. Judy’s mother was an English professor at Swarthmore College. Judy became a Friend following graduation from George School in Newtown, Pa.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Judy studied at the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. Judy taught elementary school for a year, then worked for a year at the Brooklyn Museum of History where she taught classes for visiting public school children.

Bill Matchett was a student of Judy’s mother at Swarthmore, where he met Judy. Judy and Bill married in 1949, then moved to Cambridge, Mass., where Judy volunteered with Planned Parenthood while Bill studied for his doctorate. Their first son, David, was born in Cambridge in 1952. Judy and Bill moved to Seattle, Wash., in 1954, where daughter, Kathy, was born in 1954, and son, Stephen, in 1957. Judy and Bill were members of Cambridge Meeting from 1949 to 1954. They transferred their memberships to University Meeting upon moving to Seattle in 1954.

Judy was an active member of University Meeting. She served on numerous committees including First-day School, Hospitality, Nominating, Oversight (now called Care and Counsel), and Scholarship. She served as the meeting’s representative to North Pacific Yearly Meeting, and as liaison to University Meeting’s worship groups.

Judy coordinated an exchange program that provided European high school students an opportunity to study in the United States. She and Bill served on American Friends Service Committee’s regional Indian Affairs Committee.

During Bill’s tenure at the University of Washington, Judy and Bill took sabbatical leaves in Italy and England, where the family lived for a year.

After Bill retired, Judy and Bill moved to their home in Nellita (in Kitsap County) on Hood Canal. Judy swam most days well into her 80s. Though the water was undeniably cool to cold, she would report that her swim was “glorious”!

Judy served on the Kitsap County Space Committee and its successor, the Kitsap County Parks and Recreation Board, for 16 years. She and Bill were founding members of the Hood Canal Environmental Council and the West Sound Conservation Council. They received the Hood Canal Coordinating Council’s Environmental Achievement Award for “passionate and tireless roles as advocates for Hood Canal” in 2013. They were wonderful hosts to many who spent time with them at Nellita.

Judy and Bill’s son Stephen died of cancer in 2020. They moved in with their daughter, Kathy, and her husband, Chris, in Olympia in March 2021, when it was clear they could not continue to live on their own. Judy and Bill’s grandson helped them to use online technology to attend University Meeting when they could no longer attend in person.

Judy was predeceased by her husband, Bill Matchett, in June 2021, two weeks after their seventy-second wedding anniversary; and a son, Stephen Matchett.

Judy is survived by two children, David Matchett (Carol Snow) and Kathy Mallalieu (Chris); three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.