Judith Kazdan was known for her strong spirit and perseverance. Her first test of resilience came when she was only a year old. Judith became so ill with pneumonia that the doctor told her parents to prepare for a funeral. But she pulled through and went on to live a healthy, full and long life.
Much later in life, while running a marathon, Judith stopped to use the "bathroom" in the middle of the woods. After realizing she had used poison oak as toilet paper, she was still able to complete the marathon. She made sure to always finish what she had started, and running 42 kilometres with a rash was no exception.
Judith was a strong-willed and loving but difficult individual, prone to moodiness and depression. After the onset of dementia in 2000, she became as sweet, happy and docile as a lamb and wore her heart on her sleeve. It was hard to believe she was the same person. Negative thoughts were banished from her mind and she could only speak about how much she loved everyone.
The eldest of five children of Anna and Moses Stolow, Judith immigrated to Montreal from Russia with her family when she was 6. She was a bright student, gifted in languages, and became fluent in French. However, Judith's father did not allow her to attend university like her brothers, as her financial support was needed at home. Instead, Judith became a skilled bilingual stenographer. A devoted big sister, she paid for a piano and lessons and art supplies for her younger brothers.
After the start of the Second World War, Judith took up her girlfriend's suggestion to write to an overseas serviceman as a pen pal. His name was Aaron Kazdan, and after a long correspondence, the two were wed in 1948.
After raising four children - Eleanor, Fred, Matthew and Charles - Judith and Aaron joined the North York Track and Field association in 1967 and began their running careers. Running made Judith feel happier and more confident, and allowed her to display her accomplishments, something she had been denied as a young woman. She ran 38 marathons around the world, and later broke the Canadian Masters Athletic Association's world record in the women 80-plus category for 1,500- and 3,000-metre indoor races.
Around the same time she started running, Judith decided to pursue a lifelong dream of getting a university education. She enrolled at York University, took one or two courses a semester and graduated at 67 with a BA in psychology.
Judith was an exceptional woman, and inspired so many with her adventurous spirit, willingness to start new things at any age and desire to always do her best.
Julia King is Judith's granddaughter.