A bench overlooking the lake at Lehigh Portland State Park now offers a place to sit, reflect and remember a woman who spent much of her life caring for people and exploring the world around her.
The memorial bench honoring the late Judy Works was presented Friday afternoon during a gathering of Iola Rotary members and visiting Rotarians from Chile. The bench was donated by the Iola Rotary Club.
Works’ husband, Fred, and children were unable to attend the dedication. Before Judy’s passing, the couple had planned a hiking trip through the Alps in Switzerland, northern Italy and the eastern coast of Spain. In her honor, Fred and two of their children continued with the trip as planned. A secondary dedication ceremony will be held when they return, at which time the plaque for the memorial bench also is expected to be ready.
For those who knew Works, the setting is particularly fitting, as was the presence of the Chilean guests. (More on that later.)
Judy loved the outdoors and spent years hiking trails with Fred, including long-distance treks at Everest Base Camp, the Tour du Mont Blanc, the West Highland Way, the Costa Brava, the Kerry Way, Patagonia, two routes of the Camino de Santiago and three of New Zealand’s Great Walks.
Her appreciation for the outdoors began much closer to home, at her family’s cabin in Colorado, where she taught her children to love hiking trails, mountain air, cold streams and challenging climbs.
But Works’ legacy in Allen County extended well beyond the trails.
FOR MORE than 40 years, she devoted herself to nursing and family medicine in Iola and Humboldt. She spent more than two decades with The Family Physicians in Iola before spending the final 12 years of her career at the Monarch Cement Company Medical Clinic in Humboldt.
The Monarch Clinic became a particular passion for Works, allowing her to practice the kind of close, personal, hands-on medicine she believed in.
She had a reputation for compassion combined with persistence, gently pushing people toward healthier choices, needed appointments, harder walks or difficult conversations.
Her work earned numerous professional and community honors, including the Kansas Governor’s Council on Fitness Kansas Health Champion Award, the Thrive Allen County Award for Excellence in Health and Wellness and the University of Kansas School of Nursing’s “Heart of Healthcare” Award.
Service also was woven into Works’ life outside of medicine. She was a 38-year member of the Iola Rotary Club, serving two terms as president, and was a Paul Harris Fellow. She was among the first women admitted into Rotary.
She also belonged to Chapter L, P.E.O., for 37 years and served on the boards of the REACH Healthcare Foundation and Allen County Hospital, as well as school site councils, extension boards and numerous other organizations in Allen County and across Kansas.
It was that combination of service, community and a love of the outdoors that made the setting of her memorial especially appropriate.
Works died suddenly in May of this year.
MARY KAY HEARD, chairman of the board of Iola Industries, welcomed the Chilean Rotarians to the bench dedication and explained the history of the state park.
