Judith “Judy” Rhonda Kee (née Loudon), 91, went home to be with her Lord and Savior on November 25, 2025.
She was born, unexpectedly, on December 1, 1933, at Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio while her mother was travelling with her father, for business. Her parents, the late Andrew “Lee” and Virginia Loudon were able to return to suburban Chicago, to reunite with Judy’s 2 older sisters, when she was only a few weeks old, after her mother was well enough to travel. Judy would call Chicago, and its’ suburbs, home for the next thirty-four years.
Judy graduated from Oak Park–River Forest High School and then studied to become a Spanish teacher at Elmhurst College, where she met and became engaged to her first husband, Donald Seifert. She left college when Don enlisted and they then married on September, 1955 when his term of service was completed. With a brief stop in Livonia, Michigan, career advancement opportunities would steer the family to Smithtown, NY, in 1970 and then to Ithaca, NY, in 1976. During her 19 years in Ithaca, she would work for and retire from M&T Bank, see both daughters marry and suffer the loss of her husband, Don. Judy devoted time as volunteer secretary at Heritage Baptist Church, in Groton, NY and then was an active member of Hillside Alliance Church in Ithaca, until she moved to Bristol Village in Waverly, Ohio in 1997.
Once settled in her new home, Judy worked part time for the Village’s marketing department and was involved in many of the events, activities and goings on, both at Bristol Village and First Baptist Church in Waverly. She married Dennis “Denny” Kee, another member of the BV community, himself a widower in October, 2006. As a couple they enjoyed travelling, swimming, golfing, playing bridge, walking around their neighborhood, making bread and breaking bread with friends. Above all, they loved their family and serving their Lord, their church and their community.
A woman of many talents, Judy was an avid bridge player, and in her later years she took pleasure in playing her piano. She was an excellent seamstress who delighted in decorating and crafting. She especially enjoyed employing these abilities to imagine and create Christmas decorations and gifts for the many she loved and cared about. Judy was also a gifted writer of children’s stories, who won multiple awards for her work. As many of her stories were fictionalized versions of childhood memories, making children the heroes, she kept them lovingly preserved in a book, she dedicated to her daughters and enjoyed looking back and reflecting on these.
Over the years, the many locations and churches she was involved with, Judy was ready and willing to do whatever her church needed and the Lord called her to do. She particularly delighted in those activities that involved children. She spent many years active in the Village Choir, Vespers, her church’s AWANA program and helped coordinate and facilitate countless sessions of VBS, and Village holiday plays and productions, applying her talents to making costumes, props and scenery.
In addition to her parents, Judy was preceded in death by her first husband of 33 years, Donald Seifert, who passed in 1988, and by her second husband, Dennis Kee, whom she shared a loving marriage with until his passing in 2019. She was also predeceased by her four sisters—Dolores Rice, Audrey MacAleer, Jacqueline Neubauer, and Claire Loudon.
Judy is survived by her two daughters, Karen (Ronald) Baker of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Cynthia (Michael) Herzing of Big Island, Virginia. She is also survived by her stepchildren Kathy (Terry) Vanderhoof, Linda (Pat) Harrison, Randall (Kim) Kee, Scott (Donna) Kee, and Diane (James) Ridge; three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, numerous step grand and great- grandchildren, several nieces and nephews.
Judy’s life was a testament to devotion—devotion to her faith, her family, her church, and the many people whose lives she brightened through her kindness, creativity, and service. Her quiet strength, generous heart, and love for the Lord were evident in everything she did. Judy’s legacy will continue in the generations who loved her and in the countless lives she touched.
• Service date: December 6th, 2025
• Service location: First Baptist Church, Waverly, Ohio
• Officiant: Pastors Val Francis and Josh Remy
• Interment/cremation details: Evergreen Cemetery, Waverly, Ohio and Pleasant Grove, Ithaca, New Yok
• Additional gathering information: Receiving of friends 10:00 am, preceding service
