Born Judith Roberta Thomas in Dallas on September 13, 1946.  She was the third child of Robert and Norma Thomas, and their first daughter after their boys Robert and Richard had already traumatized the neighborhood.  Susan was born a few years later. 

Judi planned to be a teacher, earning her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from UT Austin in 1968. 

But after a short marriage to Roy Sheffield and the birth of Neil Andrew Sheffield, she went back to school. She earned her Master of Science in Information from North Texas State University (now UNT). She was now a Librarian, working at Liberty Junior High School and Apollo Junior High School in Richardson ISD, and the Parr Library in Plano.  

She married Garland Collett, and soon came Julia Nicole Collett, the only daughter for both.

Along with her two children, Judith is survived by her two granddaughters: Jadyne Rose Collett and Ariel Maya Whitworth. 

Judith passed in her sleep on April 25, 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas.

In Her Honor- In lieu of flowers or donations, please spend a day doing these activities:  Visit your local library, pick out a book, and read it AT THE LIBRARY.  If you take it home, you’ll just put it on the kitchen counter where it will sit untouched until it’s past due. Take at least one person with you. Someone that isn’t able to get there without help. 

“There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration."

— Andrew Carnegie