By Gene Strohl: Judi and I met in the eye of the Civil Rights storm in the mid 1960’s. We both had a passion for theatre and acting – and because of that we met in a rather unlikely way. She had shown talent in that area while in high school. I had just, in my early 20’s, enrolled in an acting class. She had already become a member of an African American acting troupe which was just then staging their version of a classic Japanese story. It was a story I was interested in, so I went to see it – liked their production very much – and wound up becoming a member of the troupe. Judi and I began dating – a somewhat risky business in mid-1960s Chicago, where a substantial portion of the police force were KKK wannabes. I actually found myself thrown in jail twice for being seen on the streets with her after dark. When the theatre company decided to produce a play that traditionally had an all-white cast, but in a “rainbow” version where color was irrelevant, Judi and I were now working together. We weren’t in lead roles, but somehow the two of us alone wound up featured in a full front-page picture in the Chicago Defender, the town’s African American newspaper. This demonstrates just how rare and noteworthy interracial couples were at that time. We soon married and, though no longer acting, Judi and I managed to find enough alternative drama over the next several years. There was, for instance, the hostility from people who did not understand or accept our inter-racial marriage, including the surprisingly rancorous response to us from the student body at the University we attended together. Luckily, through all that, we had enough time to produce our masterpiece of a daughter – Vivian Alexandra. Incidentally, our other joint accomplishment during those years was to finally bring both of our families into not only accepting, but actually embracing, our marriage. Vivian played no small part in that. She was irresistible even then - one should never underestimate the power of grandbabies! All this, unfortunately, wasn’t enough to save our marriage – but we did co-parent Vivian and wound up good friends. Judi eventually went on to become Judith Zavige (a kind of nom de plume). She was a loving mother, a talented writer, artist and well-respected businesswoman. We all miss her, but her spirit certainly lives on through Vivian, Dillyn and Kendyll.