Judith Victoria Beirs

Obituary

Born in Hartford Connecticut on November 7, 1942, Judith Beirs died at her Sunny Lake home near Gravenhurst Ontario, on May 4, 2026. Her husband, Gordon Laxer and her youngest son, Daniel Laxer, were with her at the dining table when she stopped breathing.

Judith was born into a Lithuanian-American, Catholic family. Her family life was chaotic and difficult at times, but Judith blossomed when she went to Hartford Public High School. She excelled at her studies and joined many school clubs. After high school, Judith graduated from the Hartford College for women in 1963 and then moved to Toronto to attend the University of Toronto. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Honour Sociology in 1966.

Judith was a kind person, with great empathy for everyone, especially the poor, the disadvantaged, and those discriminated against. She had a smile that lit up the room. Judith was strong willed, clear sighted and very creative. She believed in hard work. She knew who she was and the kind of caring, supportive family and community she wanted to help shape.

Jude was easy to talk to, very down to earth, no nonsense, with no pretensions or airs. She thought judging people by their looks was very superficial. What matters is their character and their souls. She was always concerned about deeper things – fairness above all. Jude looked out for the well-being of her family and others she loved. She was an early leader of women’s liberation and civil rights in Connecticut in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She worked in her dream job as an investigator for the Connecticut Human Rights Commission (1968-1973) during the heyday of the U.S. civil rights movement.

Judith met the love of her life and best friend, Gordon Laxer, in the Sociology programme at the University of Toronto in 1964. After moving back to Hartford in 1966 and working for six years, Gordon finally persuaded Jude and her “miracle baby” Damon, to move to Toronto, in February 1973, to build their life together. They married the next month and had two more sons. The family moved to Edmonton in 1982 and stayed for 30 years.

After getting a Master of Social work degree in her mid 40s at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Jude worked as a mental health therapist. She fought for women’s rights, against racial injustice, for happy family dynamics. Jude worked with dysfunctional families among the disadvantaged in a low-income area in Edmonton Alberta. Growing up in similar circumstances, she cared deeply and carried their pain. Her clients felt the connection.

Raised in a bleak, tenement neighbourhood, Jude’s early dream was to fight for social justice, lead a peaceful life, full of love, surrounded by nature. She loved to hike, go camping and to cook. Jude realized much of her dream through her deep love for her best friend - her husband Gordon, her three sons and daughter-in-law, a house in Edmonton she helped renovate, the distinctive 2009 lake house by Sunny Lake near Gravenhurst that she helped design and her amazing rock garden, where she loved to work. She wrote haiku poems on the unfolding of the day at Sunny Lake. All who knew and loved her, benefitted from Judith’s determination to realize her dream for social justice, peace, love and nature. It cloaked them too.

Judith leaves three sons, Christopher, Daniel and Damon Laxer, and the latter’s wife Kelly Ann Laxer, her brother Jonas and her sister Theresa, her sister-in-law, Linda Hutheson, and many nephews and nieces in Canada and the United States. Judith was pre-deceased by her father Edward F. Beirs, her mother Victoria Butch Beirs and her brother Francis E. Beirs.

Judith is deeply missed. Her spirit lives on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her.

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September 6, 2026

Here is our submission for Judes' memorial.

Jude and I were in the same high school class of 1961. We were in Latin, Chem. and Math classes together. It was a very large school and our senior class had about 450 students. The school newspaper, which had 8 or 9 editions per year, always had a senior of the month feature. Jude was one of the very few to be selected.
Ed Falat, a fellow student, always described Jude as a person who was very easy to talk to. That really described her very well.
Ed and I talked Jude into joining us, along with Pat Hodges (Astle ) to do a skit ( a really silly one ) as a part of a seniors' night programme. Jude went along with it, but mentioned years later that she was nervous about participating .
After graduation, the four of us, along with others in our social group , kept in touch until 1966. University graduations, marriages, etc. split all of us apart at that time.
Amazingly , due to social media , some of us were able to reconnect in 2011 after 45 years.
Jude, Ed, Pat and I ( the silly skit cast ) started emails, visits, video chats and phone calls . These added so much to our lives over these past 15 years.
In our yearbook , Jude put in the quote ( There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.)
I like to think that she accomplished this by her social work,being a wife and mother, being a good friend to many , and her love of gardening.
During summer visits to the lake I watched Jude , ignoring the physical pain she felt work in her garden pulling weeds doing her duty to be happy.
An example for all or us to follow.
A life well lived. Wonderful memories.
Greg and Peggy Garach

peggy garach

Greg Garach

September 6, 2026

My sweet daughter-in-law Kelly Ann wrote these words. With love

Gordon

September 3, 2026

What can I say about the warm feeling in my heart when I say her name and remember her? Looking at her, she appeared to be very fragile. Don't let her looks fool you. Dynamite comes in small packages. She probably had more endurance in her than any of you here. As small and tiny as she was she was a force when it came to fighting for something she believed in. Although she was sick towards the end, she fought and lived on because she had so much love for the people she would leave behind. I admired her for that.

I remember some of the conversation her and her brother Fran had about their childhood. Jude and Fran saw all the good in their childhood and disregarded the bad. Fran was so close to his sister. I can remember when I was introduced to the family at a family reunion. You all made me feel like part of the family and I thank you for that. Jude was one of the first that I wanted to impress because I knew how much Fran believed in her. She took me right under her wing. What a great reunion that was. I can only imagine the reunion she had with her brother in heaven. He is protecting her now just like he did when they were children.

Speaking of children, she was so very proud of you boys. She spoke of you constantly and told us what you were up to at the time and was on cloud nine when you were there for a visit. Her eyes lit up and you could almost feel the pride that poured out from her heart. When you hear the term "heart of gold" that was Jude. Also, you could not miss the love she had for you, Gordie, and what you felt for her. You guys were a true love story. Thank you all for taking such good care of her. It was hard living so far away when someone you love could use your help.

To end this, I will tell you guys a story. When Gordie and Jude came down to visit, since we are a seafood state, we boiled crabs, crawfish and shrimp. Gordie dug right into all of it. Jude ate the veggies only. When we threw them on the table, all cooked, she yelled "Oh my they still have the eyes and they are looking at me". She wanted nothing to do with them. Til today, I think of that every time seafood is thrown on the table. Ya gotta love her.

I hope that put a little smile on your faces. I am sure you guys need it right now. May all of her love live on in all of you. I love you all.

Sandra Beirs
(sister-in-law) Lockport, Louisiana

Sandra Beirs

September 3, 2026

I noticed Judith – that’s what I addressed Jude as, in response to her always calling me Edward -- because she was in almost all my Hartford Public High School classes (English, Latin, Math). She was well liked by the students and teachers. She once made an embarrassing mistake in our Latin class, which made some laugh, but the teacher justified the error and took away the sting. Judith was also in some of the same clubs (Latin, Physics, Astronomy.) She volunteered to be club secretary and used to hand write meeting invitations for the club members. She braved the cold when the Astronomy club had access to the school’s telescope during late fall evenings and knew how to read the Ephemeris (a table, data file, or book that lists the calculated positions of celestial objects or artificial satellites at regular intervals over time) to obtain the right ascension and declination to aim our refracting telescope in the old Victorian Hopkins Street building. She built one of the transistor radios that I’d designed as a Physics Club project. A picture of Judith using her radio was in the local newspaper and her enthusiasm showed. Jude and I would proofread each other’s compositions for English class before submission, because Mrs Tranberry was a real stickler. It was wonderful having a friend as easy to talk to as Jude, as most of the other girls had no use for the nerdy college cohort.

Though I lived on the other side of town, I walked her home on Hudson Street once – without realizing it -- while discussing the topic of a club meeting on meditation – did we have an out of body experience (?) or we were hypnotized by the lecturer (?). Judith convinced me and our friends to go to the Hartford Times Christmas carol sing and to see an opera with the free student seats at Bushnell Memorial Opera House; experiences I’m glad that I did not miss.

In our senior year, Greg Garach and I drafted Jude and Pat Hodges to appear in a Senior Night skit that we had put together. We -- especially Jude -- worried about a line in the script that was a deliberate spoonerism that had sexual overtones and also the effect a screamer (Helen Kurpen) that we planted in the audience, … might have on our aging principal Dr Quirk. We thought the (Frankenstein parody) skit was going to be rejected, but it wasn’t and we were amazed that our planted screamer was not the only one during the performance, as I (the monster in the skit) returned to the stage from behind the audience.

We all went to college and kept in touch on breaks until the mid sixties. I lost track of Jude until I got an e-mail about our 50th reunion. High school classes have cliques and ours was no exception. It seemed more appropriate to have our our own sub-reunion with basically just the close friends we had become doing the skit.
Darlene was the breadwinner and sole paralegal for a lawyer, and could not get away for more than a weekend, missing the first reunion. One time when both Greg and I were at the lake house, we took a canoe out on the lake. I’d never been in a canoe and Greg was not experienced like most Canadians, so ever-concerned Jude called the neighbors to make sure we had not capsized. When Darlene finally was able to travel to Ontario and met Jude, she too noticed her abundant kindness and empathy despite her obvious pain.

We miss Jude, and memories of her are treasures.
Ed and Darlene

Connecticut

Ed Falat

September 3, 2026

Judy was a giving and kind soul. I didn’t know a lot about her as I grew up, which I am sad to say, but when I did talk to her she was always happy to connect and share stories.
One memory that stands out the most is when I was 6 years old. I had had a scary situation happen to me that made me not want to go outside to play during the summer of 1974. My mom, Susan, was in conversation with Judy and Gordon, my aunt and uncle. They told mom they would be willing to take me in for two weeks on their lake in Canada.
So then my mom decided it would be a good idea, got me on a plane with an airport chauffeur and I flew to Canada. I arrived to Canada, and was graciously greeted by my aunt and uncle, Judy and Gordon, as well as Damon their child, my cousin. I had had some interaction with them before but hadn’t known them real well, so I was a little excited and worried, I met them for the stay.
Next we drove to a beautiful lake where we stayed in a cabin, swam, boated and played under trees. I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember their gentle kindness. I felt safe, cared for, and loved. Looking back, it was a great gift to me and my mom. It helping give me hope to new life, trust in others, and an understanding that hope can be anywhere you feel safe and welcomed.
McMinnville Oregon

Heidi Shortell Reinker

September 3, 2026

When I think of Jude, I am immediately in a kitchen or around a table of food with a warm circle of people. And in each instance, she is fully present, her discerning eyes dancing with a joke or a gentle tease that invites people in.
When I think of Jude, I am also outside in one of her lovingly-tended gardens, whether in Edmonton or three provinces away in cottage country. I think her attunement to plants was an extension of her attunement to people.
When I think of Jude, I imagine her as the centripetal matriarchal force – fun, no-nonsense, adored – at the center of the circle of her family of men. I see the way Gord looked at her, re-told stories of how they met, bewitched.

Sara Dorow

September 3, 2026

“I knew Judith as a friend in high school. We remained friends as young adults. As she became more involved in Canada we drifted apart.
A mutual friend (Greg Garach) got in touch with me in my early 80's and Jude called me. Our friendship was on again.
Except for times of illnesses and doctor's appointments we usually talked once a week for an hour.
We talked about anything and everything. Her love for you and your three sons shone through. It has been a great comfort for me and I learned a lot from her.
As sorry as I am she had to go I am glad she is no longer suffering the intense pain caused by her illness.
If anyone is in heaven, it is precious Judith Beirs.

Patricia Astle
My best regards to you and each of your sons. I grieve along with you all.”

Pat Astle

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Judith Beirs