Judith Anne Laaksonen
March 10, 1939 - December 20, 2024

Judy passed away peacefully on December 20th, 2024. She was 85 years old.

Mom is survived by her daughter, Robin Laaksonen Naser (Dave), sons, Paul Laaksonen (Sherri) and Neil Laaksonen (Kelly) and her sister Wendy O'Connor Quinn (Ed). Nannie also leaves behind her grandchildren, Kyle, Courtney and Rebecca Naser, Mason and Morgan Laaksonen, and Sonja and Joshua Laaksonen. Additionally, Aunt Judy will be missed by her nephew, Bill O'Connor (Jennifer) and niece, Jill Bushnell (Max), and their children Jack, Sydney and Harry O'Connor and Blake, Brooke, and Max Bushnell. Cousins, Jill Owen, Jay Estabrooke, Butch White (Pat), and Bob White (Lynne), Sally Kerr and Lori Russell will remember her. She was predeceased by her brother-in-law, Billy O'Connor and her ex-husband, Leo Laaksonen.

Judy was the first child of Harold and Bessie White and was born on March 10th, 1939, in Trenton, New Jersey. She and her sister were lovingly raised by their parents in East Hanover with summer trips to Florida to stay with family. She learned to love music, reading, the beach, and manatees and had dreams of being a nurse. She graduated from Madison High School in 1957 and then attended Berkeley Business School where she graduated in 1958. She married in 1960 and raised her children in Pennington, New Jersey while working as a secretary, then certified EMT (volunteer) and then a Medical Assistant, doctor trained, which was her true calling. After 40 years caring for patients and aiding medical staff in various locations, she retired from her last role at the Immediate Medical Care Center in Parsippany, New Jersey. She then moved to Havertown, Pennsylvania in 2012, near her daughter and son. At the end of her life, she moved in with her daughter and her husband to Philadelphia where she sat on the porch sunning herself while watching people and pets.

Judy loved horror and Hallmark movies, tennis, skiing, reading, music, singing and animals (especially cats and manatees). She loved any junk food, anything dairy, orange milk, and fried oysters. She loved the beach and the sun! Many years were spent singing in church choirs. Everyone received a Happy Birthday song! She was eternally young at heart.

There will be a memorial mass at Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, New Jersey on March 31st, 2025, at 10:30 am followed by a luncheon at Pascarella Brothers, 34 Watchung Avenue, Chatham. Judy will be laid to rest in Hanover Cemetery near her parents.

Judy asked that instead of flowers a donation be made in her memory to support her beloved manatees. Thank you!

www.savethemanatee.org

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Arrangements: Rigby Harting & Hagan Funeral Home
www.haganfuneralhome.com