Judith "Judy" E. Harms

Judith Ellen Harms was born August 6, 1939 and passed away due to complications associated with lung cancer on January 10, 2017. Judy’s parents were the late Harold and Nona Hamaker. She attended St. Paul Lutheran School and West High School, and lived the majority of her life in Rockford, although she also lived in Arizona and Wisconsin in her younger years.
Judy’s personal life was complex and colorful. She believed in love and she believed in marriage, and exercised both prolifically. She married four times. Her first marriage was to Alf Corneliussen in 1958. That marriage produced two sons, Alf and Alan. She married again in 1961 to Richard Olson, and had her third child, Krickett. Her third marriage to Vern Langan lasted about 8 years between 1970 and 1978. Her final and most successful marriage was to George Harms, enduring 25 years from 1979 to 2004.
During her 77 years of life, Judy worked at a variety of jobs and occupations, ranging from managing a convenience store to running a Best Western motel in Arizona to working as a sales associate at Katherine’s in Rockford, plus many others. She spent the last decade of her life before taking ill living at the Park Towers apartments in Loves Park, where she made many friends and enjoyed as best she could her “golden” years.
Judy is survived by her three children, Alf Langan and his wife Rebecca of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Alan Williams and his wife Susan of Phoenix, Arizona, and Krickett Carr and her husband Wayne of Rockford. She also leaves behind four grandchildren, Samantha Langan-Spencer and her husband Robert, Tyler Langan, Zachary Langan, and Jonathan Williams. She is further survived by her beloved younger brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Sandy Hamaker of Rockford, plus her nephew Jeff Hamaker and his wife Amanda and their boys Harry and Sam of Rockford, her niece Melinda Roach and her husband Mike of Rockford, her niece Melody Hamaker of Portland, Oregon, and her niece Kathy Vance and her husband Keith and children Louis and Maddie Olauson of City of Lake Ozark, Missouri. She was predeceased by both of her parents, her older brother “Skip” Harold Hamaker, Jr., her niece Candy Hamaker, and all of her former husbands.
The family gratefully acknowledges Dr. Nameer Mardini and the staff at Swedish American Regional Cancer Center, the staff at Alden Debes Acute Care Center and the staff at Northern Illinois Hospice Center for their compassionate, thoughtful and excellent care.