Judith Ann (nee Melton) Heuton

Judith Ann Heuton, of Grand Junction, Colorado, passed away June 12, 2024. Judy was born on July 24, 1947 in Iowa City, Iowa and was adopted soon thereafter by her loving parents, Ernest and Mary Melton, and her brother, John Melton. Judy grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where she met her husband Michael Heuton, who predeceased her on January 1, 2017. Later in life, Judy learned of her large extended biological family and had the opportunity to get to know many of them.

Judy had an unparalleled ability to care for all living things including her husband, her children, grandchildren, and countless wild animals and pets. One of Judy’s great accomplishments was her “Little Hayfield” farm located at the northern end of town in Grand Junction. When she and her husband first bought the property, much of the nearly forty acres was covered by scrap metal and prairie dog holes. Over the course of nearly twenty-five years, they transformed the property into a beautiful oasis replete with beautiful tree-lined roads, gardens, pond, and pastures. This sanctuary served as a place for respite for local wildlife, her pets, and her family and friends for many years.

To the end, even when virtually without speech, Judy could recognize her children and grandchildren, enjoy music, and revel in old stories of our shared family lore. She could even laugh, heartily, in spite of the distance between her remaining cognition and the vanishing ability to articulate.

“All that we can know about those we have loved and lost,” Thornton Wilder wrote, “is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality. What is essential does not die but clarifies. The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” Judy, released from the toils of old age, is restored to clarity. She will be remembered for many things including her vivacity, insightfulness, intelligence, wisdom, guidance, and wit. She is missed deeply by the many people who knew her and loved her.

She is survived by her four children, Mark Heuton, Anne Eiden, Paul Heuton, and John Heuton, their spouses, her seven grandchildren, and her biological siblings.