• Memorial Service will take place on Saturday, October 28 at 11:00 AM at IMMANUEL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1100 N. Astor St., Milwaukee, WI 53202

Judith “Judy” Cornell McFarland

Judith (Judy) Cornell McFarland was born on December 10, 1942 in Glens Falls, New York and died on September 7, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Judy was the only child of Richard (Doug) Walter Cornell and Ruth Colvin Cornell. Although her parents were not college educated, they worked in payroll management and bookkeeping and encouraged their daughter to pursue higher education. Her parents’ love of numbers and order rubbed off, and she graduated from the College of Wooster with a degree in mathematics. She met her husband, James (Jim) Thomas McFarland, at the College of Wooster, and they married on June 13, 1964.

Before she became a mother, Judy worked as a math teacher to support her husband’s graduate education. Once her children were of school age, she returned to part-time teaching as a substitute teacher, math lab coordinator, tutor, and adjunct university instructor. She loved helping people overcome the fear of math and gain confidence in their ability to calculate percentages, make sense of word problems, and solve for the value of x.

When her husband of twenty-five years died in 1990, she went back to school to get a master’s degree in computer science. She built a second career for herself with ProServices, a medical billing firm. She retired early, at 63, and that second career provided her with financial security for the rest of her life.

As a mother, Judy nurtured, protected, and proudly loved her children. She helped them with homework, baked them the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, taught them to drive, and walked with them as they faced the ups and downs of their lives as adults. Judy considered her children to be her greatest legacy.

Judy loved travel, particularly long adventures by train. She loved the beauty of the Oregon coast. She loved talking with her friends and entertaining acquaintances with her sharp wit. She loved to read and think. And as evidenced by her interest in everything from hybrid vehicles to sock knitting, she loved learning. She loathed bad grammar and the film The Wizard of Oz.

Judy is survived by her daughter Colleen Rademaker and son-in-law Robert Rademaker of Bowie, Maryland; her son Kevin McFarland-Porter and daughter-in-law Theresa McFarland-Porter of Rochester, New York; and by three grandchildren David, of Denver, Colorado, Ross, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Elizabeth of Vienna, Virginia.

Her family is particularly grateful for her companion and helper, Christa Runde, and for Susan Borkowsky at Alexian Village who helped her to maintain as much of her fierce independence as possible in her later years as she encountered more health challenges.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, October 28 at 11:00 AM at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 1100 N. Astor St., Milwaukee, WI 53202. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to Immanuel Presbyterian Church or Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

HERITAGE FUNERAL HOME
1901 N. Farwell Ave Milwaukee, WI