Judith Zitter RIP

I first met Judith, and she never was Judy, about thirty years ago in Pasadena. I don't remember the issue, I know it was a environmental one.

Judith had an engaging personality, a quick wit, a curious mind, a desire to know everything, and an incredible memory. She could also use them all to cross link data into a matrix and think "outside of the box" (before that was a overused and untrue mantra) . Judith also had the best collection of womens power suits I have ever seen, somehow totally appropriate, feminine and somehow authoritarian all at the same time. Eventually Judith went to work for then Pasadena City Councilman Rick Cole, and I ,needing more than my fair share of abuse, got myself elected to the Altadena Town Council.

Councilman Cole in those days had well researched and interesting positions. I won't say this was entirely due to Judith, but after she left his employ, the quality of his inititives did seem to me, to suffer. I lost track of Judith somewhere in all the years studying LaVina's hydroligy, Forest Service Law, Army Corps of Engineers regulations, subdivision map acts, endless hearings and all that stuff that was the LaVina decade.

Every once and again, when I was down sluming in Pasadena City Hall, I'd ask about what ever happened to Judith, but no one seemed to know.

Years later, I became one of the regularly featured artists at Altadena's Underground Arts Society. A young (then)High School Kid named Joseph Dahli hung out with us. His Mother, was a incredible cook, and would often supply the Underground openings with unbelievably fantastic and delightful morsels of food, and God bless her, large quantities of the stuff, too. Anyhow, young Mr. Dahli invited a bunch of UASer's to a family Christmas party a few years ago. We were maybe dumb enough to be artists, but not stupid enough to turn down food from Mrs. Dahli's kitchen.

There at the party helping to distribute food was a oddly familiar looking shorter woman. She had on a very well made dark navy suit. I could not quite place her. At one point she walked up to me and said, "Well, Mr. Lamb, arn't you going to say hello?" I paniced..Had I forgotten a constituant? When I looked into the face of this short person, I recognized Judith, and I managed to say "Judith?" without saying "what the hell happened to you?" Sometimes your angels really can run fast enough to shut your mouth before you really mess up.

Judith knew what I was thinking. She said "I've been fighting breast cancer, I've had kemo, it's been a long fight" How do you respond to that? I've never found a graceful way, and I don't remember what I said next, but I know it wasn't graceful, and that Judith was.

We changed the subject. I discovered Judith enjoyed cooking. We began in on Water and Water usage issues, and of course how these and Land Policy related to food. Judith seemed delighted to not be talking about her lost height, the next round of treatment, her prognosis. We spoke of old battles, of old ideas, of lost mutual friends like Hari Khalsa and his fantastic way of geographic recall of data in books, we fixed many of the worlds problems, we laughed. We hoped the land would be better off someday. We promised to keep in touch.

We never did.

Joseph, now a art student in Laguna, called the other day. After a long battle with Cancer, the Bastard won, and Judith lost. That old poets phrase about the loss of another human is a loss to all mankind of incredible yet unknowable proportion, again seems the largest reality. Her mind so brilliant, her love for the Earth and Mankind what made and informed her activism, taken from the fight early and unfairly.

Rest In Peace, Judith Zitter.