May 26, 1945 – June 27, 2026
Judith Ann (Vaughn) Fields died June 27, 2026, at IU Health Hospice House in Bloomington, Indiana.
Judy had many gifts, but perhaps her greatest gift was showing people how much they mattered. Holding the hand of a scared friend in a surgery waiting room, dropping off a casserole during someone’s illness, telling a student how happy she was to see him at school, or lighting up when her grandson walked into the room were ways Judy made people feel loved.
Judy’s story started with a goodbye. When General Motors transferred Judy’s dad, James Vaughn from Danville, IL, to Bedford, IN, her 15-year-old heart broke while she drove away from Daniel School and her beloved Aunt Pat and Grandma Erma. But when her family landed on Jackson Street in Bedford–a street lined with houses filled with “Greatest Generation” parents and their kids–they became part of a community and made friends who became friends for life. The early ache of leaving taught her the importance of being welcomed.
The belonging she found in Bedford soon led to love when, from the porch swing of the Jackson Street house, Judy saw a handsome neighbor, Wilbur Fields. Just back from the Army and working as a supervisor at the nearby GM plant, he was riding by on his shiny new Harley Davidson. With some prodding from Judy’s dad, Wilbur stopped and asked the girl in the porch swing to take a ride with him, and so their journey began. Married in 1966, their steadfast partnership lasted until Wilbur died in 2017.
The first few years of marriage were busy with growing a church family, building a house, finishing her degree, and establishing community in Oolitic. On their first wedding anniversary, Wilbur fulfilled one of Judy’s dreams when he gave her two Saint Bernards, Gretchen and Commodore. People around town shook their heads and laughed when she packed those dogs into a tiny VW Bug with their heads sticking out the sunroof.
The two gentle giants would soon become guardians of the bassinets when Kristin Michelle was born in 1972. Only 13 months later, after a difficult and dangerous pregnancy, Garrick Andrew arrived in the middle of a snowstorm and 12 weeks early. He spent his first days in the neonatal ICU at Riley Hospital. While the doctors at Riley worked to save baby “Geke,” as Kristin would call him, the doctors in Bedford fought to save his mom. Those Riley docs called it a miracle when they sent Garrick home swaddled in a shoe box, and those terrifying early days became defining moments for Wilbur and Judy. They vowed to make frightened parents feel less alone and made a mission of supporting parents when their children were in crisis. Over the years, they put a lot of miles on their cars, making trips to Riley and Kosair Hospitals to feed, hug, comfort, and pray with scared, hurting parents.
Judy and Wilbur relied on these experiences, along with their faith, to guide them when their grandson Paul also faced a fragile beginning. Twelve weeks early, Paul spent his first months in the NICU. Through it all, the new grandparents supported Garrick and Marsha and fell in love with their precious grandson. Right before Christmas, when Paul finally came home, Judy called it the best gift she would ever receive.
Judy loved being Paul’s “Grammy.” From spinning round and round in the Disney teacups to watching bears in the Smoky Mountains to quiet walks pushing him in his little red push car, Grammy and Grandad nurtured Paul’s wonder. They especially enjoyed his fascination with the fire service–from trucks and ladders to firefighters–Paul was enamored, even as a toddler. He never outgrew this passion, and when it became a calling, Judy beamed with pride as he served as a volunteer on the Oolitic Fire Department, a firefighter for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Ellettsville Fire Department. She was grateful to see Paul realizing his dream and deeply gratified to see the life of service she cherished continue through her grandson.
It was no surprise that she embraced the role of grandmother so fully; after all, she spent her whole life caring about and believing in children. Her 54-year career as an educator started and ended with Judy serving children in the place she loved best—the classroom. She taught at all levels from first grade to early college in Lawrence County. Serving children by giving them respect, boundaries, kindness, and love was her mission. She taught everything from beginning reading to college writing and high school government to seventh-grade geography. Over the years, she taught at Springville School, Ivy Tech, and Bedford North Lawrence High School, but she was especially delighted by teaching at Oolitic Middle School. Sometimes middle school children are thought of negatively because in those transformative years they can be moody, awkward, and defiant, but Judy appreciated that phase because she saw it as a stage in their development when she could best reach children.
Reaching children also guided her work for over two decades at Indiana University. As a research associate in IU’s Department of Psychology, she worked with reading and learning specialists to design curriculum and improve reading instruction around the country. At a time when it was still unusual for women to work outside the home, Judy was travelling nationwide, leading workshops and consulting with reading teachers. She was committed to reading and the power it held to change people’s lives. Through her work at IU, she helped teachers in some of the nation’s most impoverished schools learn how to teach children through research-based reading instruction.
She was especially fond of working with teachers in the Navajo Nation and in almost every county in West Virginia. Later, as a curriculum designer at the International Institute for Research in Bethesda, MD, Judy created reading instruction and materials for children in West Africa.
In her last decade of life, Judy said the hardest “goodbye” when, after 51 years of marriage, Wilbur died. During this period of grief and loss, her faith and her church family at Central Church of Christ remained the foundation of her life, and she poured her grief into serving there through encouragement, visits, meals, teaching, and friendship. She also threw herself into community service. By volunteering with Lawrence County Cancer Patient Services, Judy offered practical support to local cancer patients facing the many demands of treatment. She joined her friend Ruth Siddons in comforting people experiencing grief and loss by founding the Lawrence County Grief Support Group.
In 2019, she retired from teaching, but she hadn’t finished her mission of reaching children. She returned to the classroom as the middle school English teacher at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in 2022. She exuded joy that school year and poured her love into the students and the St. Vincent community. She also provided practical service to her family during this time, often driving–in her little yellow jelly bean–Kristin to school and appointments after her vision loss meant she could not drive.
It is these and countless other acts of service that people remember about Judy. They will remember the times she held their hands at a bedside or a funeral; the light in her eyes and her smile when they walked into her classroom; the hugs she gave when she saw them at church. They will remember how she made people feel like they mattered, and she made people know they were loved.
Judy is survived by her siblings, Daniel Lee Vaughn (Tonasket, WA) and Rebecca (Vaughn) Andrews (Bozeman, MT) and their spouses, Antonia and Mark, respectively; her brother-in-law William Dee Fields (Bedford, IN); her children, Kristin Michelle (Fields) Wintin (Bedford, IN) and Garrick Andrew Fields (Oolitic, IN) and their spouses, Frank Wintin and Marsha Fields; her grandson Paul August Fields, and step grandsons William Matt Wintin (Bloomington, IN) and Frank Jared Wintin (Palm Beach, FL); nieces and nephews Scott Fields, Lisa (Fields) Tran and, Megan Andrews and Josh Andrews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Wilbur Lee Fields, her parents, James E. Vaughn and Barbara Stevens, her mother-in-law Annabel Fields, father-in-law Paul Fields, and sister-in-law, Wilma Fields.
Visitation will be Sunday, July 5, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Day and Carter Mortuary in Bedford. The funeral service will be on Monday, July 6, at 10:00 a.m., also at Day and Carter. A graveside service at Dive Christian Cemetery will immediately follow.
Instead of flowers, friends are encouraged to honor Judy’s love of dogs by supporting the White River Humane Society.
Family and friends may express condolences at www.daycarter.com
