Pfeil Funeral Homes - Sandusky Chapel
617 Columbus Ave
Sandusky, OH 44870
Phone: 419-625-2655
Email: donpfeil@pfeilfuneralhome.com
Website: http://www.pfeilfuneralhome.com/
View All Obituaries from Pfeil Funeral Homes - Sandusky Chapel
Judith Lynne Harbrecht (Judee Hill), 72, passed away in Naples, Florida on February 20, 2015 from a massive heart attack while in Naples Community Hospital.
She was a double heart transplant recipient 15 years ago in the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
Judee was born October 5, 1942 in Sandusky, Ohio to William L. and Estelle Krutso Harbrecht.
She graduated from Sandusky High School in 1960 and Stevens College, Columbia, Missouri. She was the former owner of Heirlooms Etcetera Antiques and Appraisal. She enjoyed working at Cedar Point in her retirement.
Judee was an active member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Sandusky and Wesley United Methodist Church, Marco Island, FL. She was a former member of Plum Brook Country Club and the Sandusky Yacht Club where she was a past president of the Ladies Auxiliary.
Early in her life she achieved the Curved Bar Award, then the highest award in Girl Scouting. Other organizations that she belonged to were the American Association of Appraisers, Southwest Florida Organ Transplant, Lake Erie Firelands Tourist Council, Charter member and former president of the Firelands Post Card Club, Firelands Regional Medical Center Auxiliary, Charter member of the Community Celebrations Council, Sandusky Harlequins, Old House Guild, Ohio Historical Society, Sandusky Amvets Post, American Legion Auxiliary, Marco Island cancer support group, Mended Hearts Association, and the Erie County Senior Center Auxiliary, the Sandusky Maritime Museum, and was a longtime volunteer for WVIZ channel 25 PBS. Judee was Co-founder and charter member of the Lakeshore Corvette Club. She also was instrumental in placing the gazebo in Washington Park and especially enjoyed participating and organizing the Fourth of July festivities in Sandusky.
She also organized all the reunions for the class of 1960 through their 50th reunion in 2012 including the first Sandusky reunion held in Naples, FL, now an annual event for Sandusky High Graduates. Unfortunately, her declining health prevented her from attending this year's reunion.
An avid bridge player she obtained her life Masters rating in the early 1970's and also enjoying other board games, traveling and music. She was a collector and believed in the adaptive reuse of items destined to bury our future generations.
She was a grateful recipient of two heart transplants within one 24 hour period in 2000 and gave freely and generously to support groups for all organ donors and transplant recipients offering constant encouragement. She was a cancer survivor.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her special cousins Patrick Gerold and Joyce Wallner, her grandparents and several aunts and uncles and second cousin Amy Harbrecht.
She is survived by her three sons: Troy and Trish Hill, Norwalk, OH, Erik Hill, Detroit, Michigan, and Bradley Hill, Denver, Colorado, her brother Joseph W. Harbrecht (Diane Buck), Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, her granddaughter Sarah Nicole Marie Decker, Bellevue, Ohio and her step granddaughter Brooke Elizabeth Frakes, her great granddaughter Yardley Decker, Bellevue, Ohio, and several nieces and nephews and her special aunt Beverly Harbrecht Byington, Mesa, Arizona as well as numerous cousins.
The family would like to extend their appreciation and thanks to the numerous medical personnel at the Cleveland Clinic, Naples Community Hospital, and Naples Dialysis Center that helped their mother throughout her life.
A memorial service celebrating Judee's life will be held in Sandusky, Ohio later this year. Arrangements are being made through Pfeil Funeral Home, Sandusky Chapel, 617 Columbus Avenue Sandusky, Ohio.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the charity of your choice or the following organizations: The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (heart transplant area), Mended Hearts, Naples, Florida, Trinity United Methodist Church, Sandusky, Ohio, and Southwest Florida Organ Transplants.
Condolences may be shared with the family at pfeilfuneralhome.com.
