Judy Allen

Judy Rutherford Allen passed away peacefully on April 22, 2025 at the age of 79. Judy was born in Clinton, South Carolina on March 4, 1946 to Carl and Edna Rutherford. Her family moved to Richmond, Virginia where she was raised. As a young woman, she met her husband Bob while she was working as a pharmacy tech and he was in pharmacy school at the Medical College of Virginia. When Judy and Bob married and moved to Chapel Hill, NC in the late sixties so Bob could earn his graduate degree at UNC, Judy worked in the athletic and psychology departments. In 1974, they moved to Raleigh, NC where they raised their two children.

Judy was passionate about animals, adopting countless dogs and cats and volunteering for several animal rescue organizations. She loved plants and working in her yard and was an active member of several garden clubs over the years. Judy cared deeply about the environment, organizing adopt-a-highway clean-up events, caring for injured wildlife, and helping to lead the environmental committee at garden club. Judy loved flea market and thrift store shopping, maybe a little more than her husband wanted her to. She was a great cook and baker, and she enjoyed making holidays and birthdays special with food. She never met a stranger, and she had a wicked sense of humor, enjoying laughing about inappropriate things. Most of all, though, what Judy loved more than anything else was her family.

Judy is survived by her husband of 56 years, Bob Allen of Raleigh, NC; daughter, Kelly Allen of Hillsborough, NC; son and daughter-in-law, Matt and Amanda Allen of Raleigh, NC; and grandchildren Porter and Louisa Allen of Raleigh, NC.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Saving Grace animal rescues (https://savinggracenc.org/).