Strawberry Roan Growing Up in the Shadow of Hermits Peak
In the 1950s, Judy and her family moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Her father was an ophthalmologist and wanted to live on a ranch and raise horses. Judy’s first horse, Babe, was a strawberry road. She describes Babe as almost a pink colored horse. By the age of twelve, Judy was training the new colts for riding. She led riding tours NS Participated in the local rodeo events. As a teen, she went with friends up to Hermit’s Peak and got caught in a dangerous thunderstorm.
For high school, she went to a boarding school, the Colorado Rocky Mountains School. It was so different from her home in New Mexico. At school, she participated in the equine program and even helped beginners learn to ride. She was brave enough to try to ski and wound up going down a black diamond course. I would have been petrified!
In college, she became an activist and flew to North Carolina to help the Black community. They were met with a lot of resistant from the “White’s Only” doctor and laundromat and had their signs shot up by the KKK. She became fast friends with Eva Clayton, who went on to become the first African American woman to represent North Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.
She became a neurologist and worked at the State hospital treating mentally ill patients before moving to Colorado. Her oldest daughter is a graduate student to become a professor at the University of California Veterinary School, the middle daughter has a doctorate in psychology and is a professor at Indiana University, and her son is an engineer for Chrysler.
What an interesting life she has lived. She faced hardships as a child losing horses, dogs, and the family ranch. As adult she dealt with her and her husband’s alcoholism. The story flows nicely and her words are descriptive. I can picture the thunderstorm and heavy rain while they were hiding in a cave on Hermit’s Peak or the drive through the dirt roads of Mexico. If you enjoy memoirs, equine and family stories, you will definitely enjoy this one.
