Judy Huntsman McDonald passed away February 22, 2024 after a years-long fight with Alzheimer's.  As we remember our "good ol' gal" Judy, she was first a descendant of migrant workers, schoolteachers, and farmers--born February 22, 1945 in Miller, South Dakota to Kenneth Brown and Sarah (Fraser) Brown.  Raised in nearby Gann Valley, Judy was industrious, sharp, and buoyant from the moment she skipped past the first grade into second. Accustomed early on to hard work and wearing many hats, she was a farmhand, soda jerk at a nearby drugstore, and even moonlighted as a go cart racer.

Sitting still was not a hat she wore well though, and even college could not keep her from striding out confidently into the professional world.  Judy moved to Springfield in 1969 and found perhaps something she did not know she was looking for--the great gift she possessed and natural joy she had working in real estate.  And though her travels and new professional calling had taken her far from her roots back in South Dakota, she could make anything familiar through her talents and work ethic, and did so by becoming the youngest Springfield Board of Realtors member that same year.

The next decade would see the foundations set for everything that would define her life going forward.  Just ten years from her first tenure on the Springfield Board of Realtors she would be named its president; she met the love of her life, her husband Bill McDonald, a counselor who worked in nearby Republic's high school and middle school.  In 1979 they gave birth to their first son, Ryan, and in 1980 their youngest son William Cory followed.

Not long after the arrival of her boys, she would join Coldwell Banker, a corporate real estate company with a branch in Springfield.  And to no one's surprise she would be the managing broker soon after, a position she held until the day she retired from a decorated career spanning five decades.

But positions and laudits and industry milestones can never adequately communicate, for those who truly knew her, the gifts from her heart she shared with us all.  For those that loved her and were loved by her, lists of accolades or naming all whom she touched through her heartfelt generosity would betray the unconditional spirit in which she gave herself to family and friends, work, and the community.

For our beloved mom, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, and dear friend--we only need to imagine Winnie, practically her company mascot at one time, looking out the front doors and wagging her tail at the prospect of another happy visitor to Coldwell Banker; to remember how she slept in a chair next to her husband in the hospital as he fought for his life; the two dollar bills she trademarked by gifting them to both young and old on birthdays; how in all things the bygone days of the Gann Valley farm were always a part of her, shared with us through the peculiar charm of her day to day conversation, her unwavering integrity, or the extraordinary way she could cook, bake, or roast anything she put her oven mitts to.

As the Lord Jesus Christ spoke, "It is better to give than to receive." In all our loving images and remembrances of Judy we see the greatest gift--in giving.  She shared with us a life we could never forget.

Judy is survived by her sons, Ryan (wife Bambi) and Cory, her sister-in-law Karen Sweeney and brother-in-law Steve McDonald, her brother-in-law Alan Witham and sister-in-law Jane Brown; she was Aunt Judy to so many nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her husband Bill, brother Kenny Brown, and sister Bonnie Witham.

Visitation will be held from 2:00 – 6:00 PM on Monday, March 4, 2024 at Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home.

It would be appreciated for all donations in her honor be made to Eden Village.