September 6, 1945 - June 20, 2020Judy Smith (nee Bangsund) was born on September 6, 1945 and died in a car accident on June 20, 2020.She is survived by her sister Fern, daughter Jessie, grandchildren Akie, Iyra and Asha, step-daughter Erin, son-in-law Sal, and many others in the Bangsund clan in Saskatchewan and the Cristofoli clan in the Kootenays.Judy was born on a farm in southern Saskatchewan where she rode a horse and sleigh to get to school. In the late 1960s she graduated from nursing school in Regina. Her first husband and toddler daughter moved to the Kootenays where she taught Home Economics at the Quaker High School in Argenta.After separating from her first husband, Judy moved to Vancouver and went back to school to follow her true vocation - she got an undergraduate degree from UBC in creative writing. As well as some self-publishing, her short stories and poems appeared in numerous publications, and in 1994 Oberon Press published Native Blood, her book about nursing up north on reservations.In the mid 1980s Judy fell in love with her life partner, Roger Cristifoli. They were together until Roger died in April this year. The two of them went on many adventures overseas teaching English in Korea, China, Oman, and Thailand.Judy loved the colour turquoise. She loved the Ocean. She was planning to throw caution to the wind and spend her Seniors Supplement for covid-19 on a trip to a beach on Vancouver Island.In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Castlegar food bank.
