Judy Sargent Jewett
 |
2004
Judy Sargent Jewett
Humanitarian
Class of 1953
Judy Sargent Jewett is a 1953 graduate of BHS. Judy married Paul Jewett in 1956 and worked at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine Library while Paul attended medical school. While Paul did his medical internship and began a stint in the U.S. Navy in Panama, they adopted the first two of their seven children, Maritza and Miguel, both Panamanians. Then they returned to San Francisco where Paul completed his Navy service. There they found and adopted their son, John Calvin, who is multi-racial. After Paul completed his Navy service, they returned to Omaha. While in Omaha they adopted two more sons, Jay Soundsleeper, whom they lost at 17 months to a brain tumor, and Mathew who is bi-racial. In 1968 after training for a missionary career with the Presbyterian Church, the family sailed to India for their first assignment at the Wanless Chest Hospital in the Village of Wanlesswadi in western India. In 1970 they added two more daughters to their family, Kamala and Nalini, both of whom were abandoned. For most women being a mother to six children provides enough challenges, but not for Jewett. While mothering these six children Jewett also set up the Medical Records Department at the Chest Hospital and did the cataloging and technical processing for a small public library that was built on the hospital campus of the Miraj Medical Center, another mission about three miles away. In 1974 the Jewett family returned to Colorado for special education for one of their children. There Judy continued her education receiving her B.Sc in Business Administration (accounting) from the University of Colorado and a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Colorado Medical Center. In 1986 Jewett returned to the mission in India at the Miraj Medical Center. While there she computerized the hospital under the title of Management System Analyst. In 1990 the Jewetts were transferred to Malawi, Africa, to a small 150 bed “bush” hospital where they remained for six years. From 1996-200 they returned stateside to care for aging parents. Afterwards, Judy and Paul returned to the Mission Service and were assigned to Haiti and were eventually assigned back to the Miraj Medical center in India. After 21 years of Mission Service, they retired in 2003.