2020 Hindsight: A Mentor, A Friend, A Life Well Lived

I got some sad news on the 357th day of 2020.  We got a voice mail message in response to our Holiday Card mailing.  It was a message informing me of the recent passing (10/11/20) of my former colleague, Judy Gensib.  Judy, quite frankly, was one of the nicest human beings ever to grace planet Earth.  She was the Asst. Manager in the Dining Services Office when I started working there, as a 17-yr old Freshman, in 1986.  And, throughout the next 12+ years (she retired in late 1998), she was a formative person in my growth and development as a person and as a professional.  I cannot count the number of life lessons she graced me with, in her kind and caring way.  Especially after I became the Manager in the Office in 1994.  I was young, inexperienced in a managerial role, and, well frankly, a little hot-headed and immature (yes, friends, even moreso than now!)  Judy probably kept me out of more trouble than I even knew, while remaining calm, cool, and collected.  Nobody could talk down an angry parent (and, being Dining, there were a lot!) like Judy could.  And, even after she retired, and survived a cancer diagnosis, she remained a stalwart supporter of me in both my professional and personal lives.  We had not talked in a long while (too long!) and I regret this now (20/20 Hindsight and all) but, after I heard the news, I called three of my Dining Colleagues and we talked about Judy, traded stories, laughed, and connected.  Even in her passing, Judy brought me gifts on 12/22/2020.  My 2020 Hindsight is A Mentor, A Friend, A Life Well Lived.  I will carry Judy's wisdom and life lessons with me for the rest of my life.  And, as I stated before, she probably taught me lessons I never even realized I learned.  Tonight I grieve, but I also celebrate a life well-lived.  A Proud Penn Parent of a member of the Penn Athletic Hall of Fame.  A wonderful person.  And the smiles and memories I will carry with me forever.  Thank you, Judy, thank you.  I am forever in your debt.  May you rest in peace and may your memory always be a blessing to all who knew and loved you!