lit a candle 2d agoSaw this in the Grand Rapids Press and had to read it twice, First Lieutenant then twenty plus years as a nurse at Attwood. That generation just kept working.
Their story
Judith Ann Morris, known to family and friends as Judy, was a retired occupational health nurse from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who spent more than twenty years helping keep workers safe at a manufacturing company before building a quiet, faith centered life in her later years. She died on October 27,…
Judith Ann Morris, known to family and friends as Judy, was a retired occupational health nurse from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who spent more than twenty years helping keep workers safe at a manufacturing company before building a quiet, faith centered life in her later years. She died on October 27, 2026, at the age of 86, the day after her birthday, while living independently at Clark Retirement Community in Grand Rapids.
She was born on October 26, 1940, in Grand Rapids to Glenn and Martha Compton. Her obituary describes a life shaped first by service in uniform and then by service in the hospital and the workplace. She served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army before going on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree from Grand Valley State University, where she belonged to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
Morris later earned a Master of Science degree in Community Nursing from the University of Michigan and was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. She built her career in occupational health nursing, working for more than two decades at Attwood Corporation in Lowell, Michigan, where her leadership was credited with helping the company earn numerous OSHA safety records. She also spent four years on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, reflecting a professional life devoted to keeping fellow workers safe and healthy.
Her personal life was marked by both love and loss. She was widowed after twelve years of marriage to her first husband, Donald R. Morris, who died in 1977, and she later married Walter T. Allen, who died in 1996. Rather than let those losses define her, her family remembers her as someone who met life with strength, grace and resilience, anchored by an unwavering Christian faith. She was a longtime and active member of Central Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, where she served on committees and took part in the church's prayer shawl ministry, making handmade shawls for those in need of comfort.
News of her death prompted tributes from her church community and from the Grand Rapids Press obituary notice published on November 1, 2026, which described a woman devoted to her profession, her faith and her family. She was predeceased by her parents, both husbands, and her son in law, Anton B. van Deth, who died in 2025. She is survived by her children, Jeff Morris and Lisa van Deth, her grandchildren David and Sarah Morris, and many cousins, extended family members and close friends.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.
My uncle worked at Attwood in the 90s, said the nurse there looked out for everyone.