Jewelle “Judy” Carlson Allen of Mystic, CT, died on March 15, 2025 at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London. The daughter of Dorothy Frances Carlson (Gann) and Leroy Carlson, Judy was born in New York City May 16, 1936, and grew up in Irvington, New York and Ossining, New York, with her brother Leroy Jr., who predeceased her. She graduated from Irvington High School in 1954 and entered the School of Home Economics (now the School of Human Ecology) at Cornell University, graduating in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition.
Judy met her husband, John Elton Allen, who survives her, in 1954, while she was working at a Girl Scout Camp, where he and a college mate were visiting a friend. Judy married the young naval officer in September 1958, after completing her degree at Cornell. Judy then joined John on their Navy adventures throughout the world, where Judy’s independence, strength and perseverance made her well suited to the challenges of the nomadic existence of a “Navy Wife”. Judy moved with John, and eventually their children Barbara (b. 1960), James (b. 1961) and Carolyne (b. 1967) wherever the Navy took them, including tours in Charleston SC, Groton CT, Norfolk VA, La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy, Washington DC, and finally Newport RI. Wherever she was, Judy was a leader and friend to everyone in the tight knit Navy submarine community there. She dedicated her time and energy to lend support to many wives and children, both through efforts with the officer’s wives clubs and individual families, whenever and for whomever the need arose.
When friends and family speak of Judy, one word is always at the forefront: Teacher. Judy’s lifelong dedication was to education, both her own and that of others. After beginning graduate studies in chemistry in the 1960s, Judy taught nutrition to nursing students at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. In the mid 1970’s, with her three children getting older, Judy was able to go back to graduate school full-time, earning her Masters in Education in Special Education in 1977 from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She then taught special education with a concentration in learning disabilities at Fairfax County Public Schools. She also taught in the Department of Defense Schools while stationed abroad in Italy, and at the Pennfield School in Portsmouth, RI where she was an esteemed and beloved resource teaching specialist for over three decades. Judy also taught and tutored students individually. With her unique style, experience and methods, she was particularly successful in teaching students with learning disabilities that others were unable to reach, creating lifelong bonds with her students as she followed their life successes. Not to be left out, her three children also benefitted greatly from her often humorous approach to their education, including posting by magnet on the refrigerator witty (and sometimes lovingly cutting) poems featuring SAT vocabulary words that she wrote for each of them, preparing them for a bright future from kindergarten age.
While not a musician, Judy understood she had married into a highly musical family. She loved listening to John play piano and attending jazz concerts with him. She was particularly fond of the great female jazz musicians like Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone. Recognizing the connection of music to excellence in education, she insisted all of her children study music seriously, a gift for which they all are eternally grateful. Judy was a huge fan and supporter of the musical pursuits of all four of her talented grandchildren as well.
In retirement Judy and John travelled extensively and adventurously, to Egypt, Morocco, Russia, New Zealand, Iceland, Turkey, Thailand and the Balkans among other destinations. They also enjoyed sailing and cruising the New England coast for many years on their sailboat Iris, often with friends, with Judy as first mate, head chef, and provisioning officer. And she continued her lifelong devotion to the Girl Scouts, sponsoring many disadvantaged young students for transforming summer camp experiences and making significant improvements to the camp facilities.
If “teacher” was the first word often associated with Judy, “gardener” was an extremely close second. Self-taught, with some help from the University of Rhode Island master gardener program, Judy created beautiful gardens at every one of the many homes she made. She once told her daughter that gardening was an analogy for life: it requires very hard work and delivers great beauty, successes but also spectacular failures. But if you keep at it and keep trying new things, your garden will grow and the rewards are massive. Even the unpleasant and dirty jobs were fruitful, she said, e.g., weeding doesn’t just get rid of nubby pests, but helps you visualize weeding out all the negative energy in your life. While at StoneRidge in Mystic, her last residence with her husband John, Judy loved tending her plot in the community garden and sharing gardening tips and anecdotes with her friends. Her plot included a patch of her favorite flower the Iris, lovingly transplanted from the garden she tended for 35 years at her former home in Jamestown, RI. She became especially focused on floral design, creating works of floral art in her special collection of beautiful vases which she then displayed in the many public areas at StoneRidge as a gift for the enjoyment of the residents. One of her last writings was in a Valentine’s Day card displayed next to one of her arrangements that read “To all my friends of flowers. With love, Judy”.
In addition to her husband John, Judy is survived by her children Barbara, of Portsmouth NH; her son James and daughter-in- law Patricia of Larchmont NY; her daughter Carolyne and son-in-law David Gold of Larchmont NY, and grandchildren Carina Allen of Brooklyn, New York; Jeffrey Allen of Brooklyn, NY, Gregory Gold of Nashville, TN, and Sebastian Gold of Medford, MA. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Diane Carlson; sister-in-law and brother-in-law Deborah (Allen) and Dick Tompson; sister-in-law Cynthia Allen and brother-in-law Arne Nordihus, and many nieces and nephews.
A celebration of Judy’s life will be held at StoneRidge in Mystic, CT on May 17th at 3:00 P.M.