Judith Friedman has retired after serving as president of the League of Women Voters for 20 years, and will remain involved as the organization’s voter services chairwoman. She has been an active League member for over 50 years.
“At an age when most people are resting on their laurels, Judith is going full steam ahead,” commented Amy Ipp, the new co-president with Robin Weiss, at the League’s June 28 meeting, which Friedman ran before being surprised with special honors.
“She has inspired me to work for the greater good of the community, and to embrace social causes. Judith is always willing to lead, and express her opinions, even if they are not the popular ones,” said Ipp. “She always shows up, ably representing the League at multiple events, schlepping voter education and registration materials, and buttonholing people to urge them to register to vote.”
Commissioner Pat Sebold, a lifetime member of the League, presented a commendation from the Essex County Board of Commissioners honoring Friedman for her activism, concern for others, and integrity.
Nishna Makala, a student member of the League, added that, under Friedman’s leadership, “the League never defaulted to the pandemic or any other challenge.”
Growing Up in Worcester
Friedman was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts in what she calls “a sort of vanished world,” during the Depression and World War II.
“There were no vaccines, so we all got measles, mumps and chickenpox. No supervision of kids. We walked everywhere, maybe we took the trolley to high school. We met in each others’ houses. Kids didn’t wear helmets on their bikes.
“There were very few cars on the road; our dog used to lay down in the middle of the road, and sleep in the sunshine.”
Friedman and her identical twin sister, Joanne, were in charge of cutting the grass and collecting the leaves in the fall. “We would put the leaves in a big pile by the front door on the street by the curb and we’d burn them. It was fun! I love the odor of burning leaves.”
Her father was a psychiatrist and her mother was active in a Jewish women’s group. “After World War II, Jewish agencies would take Holocaust survivors and (resettle) them across the country. A lot of them came to Worcester, so my mother would meet the trains and bring them home for supper. We would see the numbers on the survivors’arms. My mother would find them jobs and places to live.”
Some kids did quit school in the eighth grade back then, but Friedman and her friends had college in their sights. She graduated Brandeis University in 1955 and earned a master’s degree in education from Harvard.
A Few Years Abroad
Friedman and her late husband, Merton, lived in Sweden for two years, from 1964 to 1966, when Merton had a Fulbright fellowship to teach psychology in Lund, a city in southern Sweden.
Their son, Eric, was born there, and Friedman still admires the pre- and post-natal care the country provided, with courses, exercises, and baby check-ups.
She could not find baby bottles, however. “There were none! They were very firm about breast-feeding.”
The only Swedish she learned, she admitted, focused on food and babies.
After living in Sweden, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a year. It was there that Friedman first decided to join the local League of Women Voters. She was astonished to learn that many of the women did not tell their husbands where they were going, pretending they were going out to play cards. “This was during the Vietnam War. A man we knew, who objected to the war, lost his job. The priest in a peace group we joined told us that he was being given earlier and earlier masses because of his stand on the war. Later, I began to realize what a conservative state Wisconsin has always been.”
Livingston Since 1969
When her husband worked for Veterans Administration hospital in East Orange, the family lived in Orange and moved to Livingston in 1969.
It was in Orange that Friedman learned to sew, a skill she continues to embrace. “They would teach the little kids how to swim, and the adults how to sew. I joined and I got hooked.”
To this day, Friedman still makes many of her own dresses.
Once in Livingston, Friedman joined the League of Women Voters “to find out what was going on in New Jersey.”
“We bought the house I’m currently living in. It was only 10 years old, near a school, and near the library. I thought it was terrific.” The League was significantly larger then, she said. “There were really strong, bright women who were in charge. Ellie Cohen was one of the presidents. We would meet in the afternoon, as this was before women were really working to any great extent.” The League worked to register voters, encourage voting, and participated in study programs put out by the state organization.
Friedman believes that it is harder today to recruit new members because women are working, and that a lot of organizations, many of them new ones, are competing for their interest.
Registering voters remains one of her favorite tasks. “It always appealed to me, because it’s real.” She worked closely with the late Grace Russo, going to places like Essex County College to sign up new voters.
“A lot of the inner city kids didn’t want to register. I think they were concerned about providing their names – but we would register them, just the same. I told them, ‘I’m old, you’re young, you have your whole future ahead of you. And you can be part of it and make decisions for this country.’ That convinced some of them.”
Older people can be resistant, too, she said. “When I went to Brandywine, some of the people said they were old and what was the point? But we tried to convince them.”
Friedman worked for the Essex County Educational Services Commission providing extra help in reading, math and ESL to children in private and religious schools.
“I went to St. Phil’s for many years, as well as a private Jewish school, and a school in Newark. We could only spend 90 minutes a week with these children and they really needed much more attention.” She retired in 2000 and continues her avid interest in public schools.
Friedman volunteered for the library’s ESL program this year and meets with a woman from China. She has also been secretary of the Livingston Democratic Party for a very long time, her interest piqued because “I’m nosy. I like to see what’s going on.”
Friedman’s many interests and passions range from books and politics to music and sewing. She is secretary of the Livingston Democratic Party, and a member of the Livingston Arts Council and other organizations. But her top interest, she says, is art.
“When I’m standing in front of a picture, or going to an art show, it’s just a very relaxing kind of thing. When I’m in my painting class, for 2 ½ hours a week, I can forget all the things that bother me. I regard it as art therapy.”
