Judith Koehler

TupeloJudith Allen Koehler passed away on July 14, 2011, at the Sanctuary Hospice House in Tupelo, MS after a challenging year of declining health. She was 81 years old.
Judy was born in New York City on December 24, 1929. She was the only child of Roger Chase Allen and Helen Hardy Allen. She grew up in Dover, MA. Her father was a prominent Boston banker. Judy was an accomplished English horseback rider as a youth, winning numerous equestrian competitions. She graduated from the Mary A. Burnham School for Girls (now Stoneleigh-Burnham School, North Hampton, MA) in 1949, and later attended Columbia University in New York City where she earned a degree in Oriental Art History. While at Columbia, she took a course in archeology and participated in a dig in Utah. Thus began her lifelong love of archeology. While at Columbia, she met Thomas Hume Koehler who was completing Masters Degrees in anthropology and archeology. They were married in Dover, MA on September 13, 1958.
The Koehlers had the honor of working with Dr. Margaret Mead at the Museum of Natural History in New York City as research assistants. They were both involved in the design and building of the Peoples of the Pacific Hall. During this time, they traveled to Russia, India, Greece, and throughout Central and South America.
In the early 1960s, the Koehlers moved to Oxford, MS. Both worked at the University of Mississippi, where Mr. Koehler was a professor. They spent several summers leading digs with university students in various locations in the south. A daughter, Katherine Allen Koehler Moriarty, was born in 1965. Judy and Tom later divorced. Judy was a very active member of the Oxford community. She was a Cub Scout and Girl Scout leader and a remedial reading teacher at a local elementary school, to name just a few. She was a member of the First Baptist Church.
Judy relocated to Tupelo, MS in 1991 and resided in a lakeside cottage at Traceway until just recently. She became a passionate amateur genealogist and excelled at tracing family lines back to immigrant ancestors and beyond. She successfully traced her own ancestry back 16 generations and collected data on as many as 9,000 ancestors. She attended many genealogical conferences in Boston where she did much of her research. Judy was a long and loyal volunteer at the Antone Tannehill Good Samaritan Free Clinic in Tupelo where she was a Jack of all tradesshe could fix just about anything and loved the challenges involved!
In addition to her daughter, Judy is survived by her son-in-law, John F. Moriarty, her grandson, Matthew Chase Moriarty and her granddaughter, Mary Caitlin Moriarty, all of Poulsbo, WA. She is also survived by two step children, four step grandchildren and two step great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be announced at a later date. W.E. Pegues Funeral Directors is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to The Sanctuary Hospice House, PO Box 2177, Tupelo MS 38803; The Antone Tannehill Good Samaritan Free Clinic, 420 Magazine St., Tupelo MS 38804; or Traceway United Methodist Retirement Village, 2800 West Main, Tupelo MS 38801.