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06/15/2016 08:30 AMWhen Judy Saunders worked as a clinical psychologist specializing in family therapy at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, she had little time in her schedule for volunteer work. Since retiring and moving to Ivoryton in 2007, all that has changed.
Judy has served on the board of the Essex Garden Club, the Ivoryton Library, and the Essex Art Association, and at the moment is both the volunteer coordinator and the program chair for the Essex Land Trust (ELT).
“All the boards I have been on have compelling missions,” she says. “You have to believe in something if you are going to commit time and energy to it.”
She is eager to spread the word about upcoming ELT hikes at two new properties: Saturday, June 25 at Pond Meadow Preserve, and on Saturday, July 9 at the latest property acquired by the organization, the Johnson Farm.
The walk through the Pond Meadow Preserve features a look at the diverse environments including a swamp crossed by an elevated walkway, a bridge over a stream that flows into the Falls River, and impressive stands of old trees. The July 9 hike will be the first ELT sponsored walk through trails at the 50-acre Johnson Farm, the largest tract of open farmland left in the Essex area.
The Johnson farm is more than an ELT project for Judy: It is her front yard. In fact, before people were aware of the parking lot for the property on Read Hill Street off Comstock Road in Ivoryton, they sometimes drove up Judy’s driveway mistaking it for the access point.
Judy not only took up volunteer work when she came to this area, she also took up music. It helped that one of the first people she met was Patty Hurley, founder of the Community Music School and now director of the New Horizons band, a national group organized for older musicians who want to reacquaint themselves with an instrument they played earlier in life or to learn an instrument for the first time.
Judy is one of the latter. She played piano as a child, but decided to begin clarinet lessons after visiting a band rehearsal.
“It’s a very wonderful activity,” she says. “I really enjoy the challenge of learning the music and producing sound.”
The New Horizons band, seated in the gazebo on the Ivoryton Green, will play series of patriotic favorites like John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” at the Ivoryton Fourth of July parade on Saturday, July 2.
After coming to this area, one of Judy’s first moves was to attend a French class at the Ivoryton Library. She was already a French speaker, having spent several years both studying and working in Paris. The language class led to membership for six years on the Library Board of Trustees, where she organized what has since become an annual tradition, the October 5K fundraiser: Read Local, Run Local.
She also became a member of the Essex Garden Club, ultimately serving for a time on that board.
“I’m always amazed about how much garden club members know. There is so much you can learn,” Judy says.
Now, she is one of the club members who annually make the club’s special recipe garlic salt—but don’t ask what goes into it. According to Judy, the recipe is a well-kept secret. There is, nonetheless, no secret about those who participate in making the salt: The nose knows who has been working on the garlic. The proceeds from its sale go into the garden club’s scholarship fund.
Judy is not an artist, but it interested in art; she volunteered for the Essex Art Association and helped with mounting exhibits. That, too, led to a seat on the board, which she held until term limits required that she step down.
“I believe in term limits,” she says. “It is important to get new people into organizations.”
One of the things that attracted Judy to Essex as she searched for a place to retire was the opportunity to sail. In fact, Judy says that sailing was the only outside pastime she had time for during her professional life in New York City. It has been a favored activity since her childhood in Minnesota. She grew up in White Bear Lake, a community outside Minneapolis. When a visitor noted that there was no seacoast near Minnesota, Judy had a ready retort: “Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.”
Now, in addition to sailing, she also plays bridge regularly—”An interesting game, good for the brain and a lot of fun,” she says.
Last summer, Judy did a bike ride in Italy and though she has traveled a lot, there are places she says she would still like to see, among them a first visit to Nepal and a return to Africa. Her trips over the years have involved different levels of sophistication including six months traveling across the United States in a Volkswagen camper.
But she is also satisfied staying right here.
“Essex has been very welcoming,” she says.
Hike at Pond Meadow Preserve
Saturday, June 25 at 9 a.m. Parking area at Comstock Field, Park Road, Ivoryton.
Introduction to Johnson Farm
Saturday, July 9 at 9 a.m. Leaves from the ELT parking lot on Read Hill Street off Comstock Road, Ivoryton.