28 Facts About Carol Judge

Carol Ann Judge was an American healthcare advocate and registered nurse.

Carol Judge served as the First Lady of Montana from 1973 until her divorce from her husband, Governor Thomas Lee Judge in the winter of 1980.

Carol Judge was a longtime advocate for numerous issues, including universal kindergarten, health care reform, and the ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.

Carol Judge worked in nursing and related fields within the healthcare industry for more than 32 years.

Carol Judge campaigned for improved conditions for patients at Montana's state psychiatric hospitals, including Warm Springs State Hospital and Boulder River School and Hospital.

Carol Judge's mother Hazel Anderson, was a homemaker and dietician, and her father, Kermit Anderson, owned the Anderson Advertising Agency in Los Angeles.

Carol Judge attended Bryant Elementary School and graduated from Helena High School in 1958.

Carol Judge received a degree in nursing with honors in 1962 from Montana State University.

Carol Judge was appalled by the poor conditions and lack of staff at Warm Springs.

Carol Judge later took her boyfriend and future husband, then member of the Montana House of Representatives Tom Judge, on what has been described as "a behind-the-scenes, eye-opening tour" of Warm Springs State Hospital to show the lawmaker the substandard conditions within Montana's mental hospitals.

In 1966, Carol Judge established the Home Health Agency at St Peter's Hospital, the first home healthcare and visitation program in Helena, Montana.

Carol Judge was elected Governor of Montana in 1972, defeating Ed Smith, a Republican legislator and farmer.

Carol Judge, who was 31 years old at the time, became the youngest First Lady in the history of Montana, a record she still holds today.

Lawrence K Pettit, Judge's 1972 campaign manager and former brother-in-law of Carol Judge, later wrote of the Judges, "Tom and Carol were like Montana's Jack and Jackie, handsome, beautiful and always well presented, with the hint of sophistication and urbanity," in his book, If You Live by the Sword: Politics and in the Making and Unmaking of a University President.

Carol Judge had first encountered poor, substandard conditions at Warm Springs State Hospital as a nursing student during the early 1960s.

Carol Judge visited twelve state hospitals in an effort to call attention to poor living conditions for patients.

Carol Judge wrote and printed a four-page, yellow brochure called "Have a Heart: The Human Side of Boulder River School and Hospital and Warm Springs State Hospital," which she distributed to state lawmakers and other influential individuals throughout Montana.

Carol Judge underwent treatment for alcoholism during her tenure as First Lady.

Carol Judge then led the campaign to legally classify alcoholism as a disease after the American Medical Association revised its own position.

In 1977, Carol Judge was appointed to the Liaison Panel on Alcohol Related Problems for the President's Mental Health Commission.

Carol Judge met with US First Lady Rosalynn Carter in Washington DC to discuss alcoholism and mental health issues.

Governor Thomas L Judge and Carol Judge separated during the fall of 1979 and divorced during the winter of 1980, ending Judge's tenure as Montana's first lady.

Carol Judge returned to the nursing and healthcare fields after her divorce from the Governor.

Carol Judge received a master's degree in psychiatric nursing from Montana State University in 1983.

Carol Judge spearheaded the creation of a new state program to treat nurses from substance abuse during the 1980s.

Carol Judge joined the staff of Fort Harrison Veterans Hospital in 1985, where she worked for the next 22-years.

In 2006, Carol Judge traveled to Arizona to care for her former husband, Thomas Lee Judge, as his health deteriorated.

Thomas Carol Judge died from pulmonary fibrosis in Chandler, Arizona, on September 8,2006.