Honoring Three Faithful Women
Each year, we gather to honor all women of Village Presbyterian Church with special recognition of the newest Faithful Women of Outstanding Service honorees. This year, those women are: Judy Frame, Julie O’Connor, and Louise Woodward. If you would like to attend this year’s Celebration of Faithful Women, it will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14 in Friendship Hall at Mission Campus. The event is free, but registration is requested. Let’s get to know this year’s honorees!
Judy Frame
Judy was born in St. Louis and lived in Illinois, Oklahoma, and finished high school in Wisconsin. She is a Wisconsin Badger, and earned a degree in accounting. Her first post-graduate job was in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she was a CPA at a top accounting firm. At the age of 25, she started her own accounting firm and practiced as a CPA for another seven years. While working at her firm, Judy attended the University of Tulsa and graduated with a law degree. After graduating from law school, she sold her firm and moved to the Big Apple to attend NYU Law School for a post-graduate degree specializing in tax law. The Shook, Hardy & Bacon law firm brought Judy to Kansas City in 1991. While working as a tax law attorney, Judy shared her knowledge and expertise with future attorneys as an Adjunct Professor of Law at UMKC. In 1994, Judy joined UMKC Law School faculty where she stayed until her retirement in 2022.
Over the past year, Judy has volunteered to work with Village’s business office to help implement new accounting software and redesign the budget process. Some of Judy’s current and past Village Church involvements include singing in the choir, serving as an Elder Trustee, and on the Endowment Trust Board and the Personnel and Worship & Music committees. Judy was part of search committees for Music Ministry Director and Senior Director of Business Operations. Judy also led a Village Connect group for women.
Judy has a son, Ian, and two stepsons, Paul and Andy. She has been married to Village member Mark Basso since 2021.
Julie O’Connor
Julie was born at the University of Missouri campus hospital (by the famous columns) and says she was born to be a Tiger. Julie and her family lived in Columbia, Missouri until she was 10, then moved to Kansas City. She graduated from MU with a degree in education and married her husband before they graduated. The newlyweds moved to Milwaukee for Tom’s engineering job. After three years in Wisconsin, Julie and Tom moved to Johnson County, where she taught school for three years at Corinth Elementary before their daughter Karen was born. Julie stayed home for nine years raising Karen, volunteering with the Kansas City Museum, and earning a master’s degree in Reading. In 1976, Julie returned to the classroom. She taught 2nd grade at Tomahawk Elementary for 10 years before transferring to Prairie Elementary, where she taught 2nd and 4th grades. Julie retired from teaching in 1998. Julie says through her experiences—volunteering and teaching—she made wonderful and lasting friendships.
Julie’s daughter Karen (also a Mizzou Tiger) and husband, Billy, have three sons whom Julie adores! She and Tom have so much fun being grandparents, especially after retiring from teaching.
Julie has been a member of Village since 1964, where she is a member of Presbyterian Women Circle 1. She has been involved with Mission Sewing, served as a Stephen Minister and Telecare volunteer, baked cookies for Crosslines (her chocolate chip cookies have quite the reputation), and spent many Monday afternoons at the reception desk at the Mission Campus.
Louise Woodward
Louise was born in western Kansas and raised in Colorado on a farm. She is the oldest of five children. Louise and her siblings had chores to do like washing the milk separator (which she hated), cooking, and canning food. Louise graduated first in her high school class and received the only scholarship to attend Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado (now Western Colorado University) to study education. Louise took on a variety of jobs to pay for her college education, including working at a chicken processing plant, picking cherries, writing the social column for the local newspaper, and working as a live-in nanny.
While at Western State, Louise met Pat Woodward at Bar7 Oasis which was one of two gathering places for students. This spot was known for their 77-cent lunch special consisting of spaghetti with one meatball. After Louise and Pat married, they moved to western, then central Kansas, and finally settled in Johnson County, where Louise taught high school business classes like typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping until her children were born. The Woodwards have three children and six grandkids who live in Colorado, Texas, Ohio, and Kansas.
Louise has been a Presbyterian for more than 60 years. She worshiped at Overland Park Presbyterian for 32 years and at Village Presbyterian for almost 33 years, where she became a member in 1993. Louise is an ordained elder, was the head of Presbytery, and attended Synod school for Study Leader training, where she was a leader for Presbyterian Women for 30 years. She says Dr. Bob Meneilly was a wonderful inspiration to her as a Bible study leader. Louise worked for with Church Women United, taught basic computer skills, and volunteered with Rev. Gene Augustine in Pastoral Care one day a week. Louise continued working as a GED tutor and as an administrative assistant at Johnson County Community College’s counseling department until she was 81.