Obituaries

OBITUARY | Sister Judith Best, SSND

Sr. Best

A celebration of life for Sister Judith Best, SSND, will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Sancta Maria in Ripa chapel in St. Louis. Sister Judy died Jan. 9 at Trinity Woods in Milwaukee. She was 84. A memorial Mass was held at Trinity Woods on Jan. 21.

The third daughter of Edna (Doran) and William Best, she was born Feb. 19, 1940, in Peoria, Illinois. She was baptized at St. Bernard Church in Peoria on March 19, 1940, and named Judith Ann.

Judith attended St. Bernard School in Peoria, staffed by the Dominican Sisters. After the family moved, Judith attended St. Anthony’s High School in Effingham, where she was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Realizing that she was being called to become a religious sister, she entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa on Aug. 28, 1958. She was received into the novitiate on July 28, 1959, and given the name Mary Lourdes. She professed first vows on July 29, 1960, and final vows on July 29, 1966.

Later, she returned to her baptismal name and was most often known as Sister Judy.

Sister Judy received a bachelor’s degree in history from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1962. She received a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1971.

She began her teaching career in St. Louis at Rosary High School (1962-67), followed by Rosati-Kain High School (1967-70). From 1970-72, she was a member of the SSND interprovincial committee for spiritual development. During this time, she visited Berlin and various international locations. In 1973, she was one of the founding members of the Center of Spiritual Development located at Notre Dame Hall on the campus of Saint Louis University.

In August 1973, she participated with the United Farm Workers who were picketing for a just contract near Fresno, California. She was arrested and spent two weeks at the Fresno County Industrial Farm.

Returning to St. Louis, she spent the next years in retreat/spiritual direction working out of Notre Dame Hall. In 1981, she was appointed the director of spiritual renewal for the laity for the Diocese of Jefferson City. In 1987, she was elected to the Provincial Council of the former St. Louis Province. Following her term of four years, she taught at Notre Dame High School in St. Louis for much of the 1990s. After a sabbatical, she moved to Washington, Missouri, and later to Clover Bottom as a spiritual director and to work on researching SSND heritage, coordinating the development of Sturdy Roots, a series of primary resources to tell the SSND story.

In 2010, she moved to Sancta Maria in Ripa and continued as a charism resource. As her health failed, she was transferred to Veronica House at The Sarah Community in Bridgeton in 2022 and then to Trinity Woods in Milwaukee in 2023.

Sister Judy was buried in the SSND cemetery in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, on Jan. 10.