Judy retired in 2010 after 37 years of teaching middle school language arts and drama. She spent 27 of those years at Roosevelt Middle School. She also taught in South Australia and at Monroe Middle School in Eugene. She has directed over 30 Broadway musicals, many Shakespeare plays, and 25 modern plays.

Since retiring, she has directed children in a condensed version of the opera La Boheme for Eugene Opera, directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a mostly autistic cast for Bridgeway House, created costumes for Once Upon a Mattress and The Wizard of Oz for Roosevelt Middle School, directed four shows for Rose Children’s Theatre and helped with a school show in Harlem, NYC.