Judith Ann Foote

Casper, WY resident Judith Ann Foote, 74, passed away Sunday, August 27, 2023, at Casper Mountain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Casper, WY. Memorial services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m., Monday, September 18, 2023, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Glenvil, NE with Pastor Jonathan Jehorek officiating. A time of refreshments and fellowship will follow the service at the church. Private Inurnment will take place at the Glenvil Cemetery. In honoring her wish to be cremated there will not be a visitation or viewing. Judy loved her work and her people at Meals on Wheels in Casper. If you are so moved, please consider a donation in her name to the Natrona County Meals on Wheels Foundation. Judith was born on August 31, 1948, to Elden and Evelyn Fitzke of Fairfield NE. Her story begins with Elden coming home from the Pacific Theatre in WWII and finding the love of his life and a ready-made family in the widow, Evelyn (Saathoff) Engel, and her two children, Jim and Steve Engel. They married and soon had Judy. The family of five moved to a farmstead West of Fairfield, NE Where Judy participated in 4H and graduated from Fairfield High School in 1966. She then made her way to Lincoln School of Commerce in Lincoln NE. While there she met her love, a Navy Corpsman, Daniel Fuss, Jr. They married and had a son named Daniel Fuss, III in 1969. Unfortunately, the echoes of the tours in the Vietnam War had followed Dan Jr. home and this marriage didn’t last long. Judy moved back to Fairfield, NE and after 5 years she met and married Steve Foote, Sr. in 1975. Steve had two boys from a previous marriage, Steve and Wes Foote. Steve, Sr. adopted Judy’s son Daniel “Dan” and he then took the name Daniel Elden Foote. Judy, Steve, and the three boys mainly lived outside of Hastings, NE on a country acreage. Judy had the difficult task of being a stay-at-home mother to the three boys. Steve purchased a sailboat and a trailer house that took them to Harlan County Reservoir for many fun weekends. They even took a family trip to sail the Gulf of Mexico. Judy remembers having to explain to Dan and Wes that they were not going to be allowed to take the two dead sharks and poisonous Rockfish that they had tried to hide in the car home with them to Nebraska! After seven years though, Judy and Steve divorced in 1982. Being a single mom to Dan again, Judy worked as many as three jobs at one time to make the ends meet. Judy had a full-time job at the Adams County Weed Department in Hastings, NE as the Office Manager and simultaneously the daytime adult sitter to the group of men in the department. With Judy’s hard work and the help of a supportive extended family, things worked out for Judy and Dan. Dan moved on to college at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and then moved out West to Casper, WY. where he met his wife, Marilyn. Judy moved to Lincoln, NE in 1990 and went to work at the Juvenile Attention Center, where she worked for the next 15 years. Judy was honored for her dedicated work at the Attention Center. She also went back to college during this time and graduated from Bellevue University with a bachelor’s degree at the age of 50! When Dan, his wife Marilyn, and two young children (Kelsee and Natalee) relocated to Casper, WY., after trying out stints in Lander, WY., Billings, MT., and Lincoln, NE., Judy thought it best to be close by their family and moved to Casper, WY. Judy found a work family as the accountant at the local Natrona County Meals on Wheels where she retired after 14 years. If you ask Judy’s grandchildren, Kelsee and Natalee, she was a real-life princess during their childhood. They spent many nights at nanny’s house while Dan had a job that took him out of town and Marilyn worked overnight. Judy learned from her time as a single mom how important helping out family was to raising children and she excelled in paying it forward by being an extended parent to her granddaughters. Judy was a long-time member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Glenvil, NE and First St. Paul’s Lutheran in Hastings, NE. She held on to her faith till the end. She was a fantastic mother, grandma, aunt and friend. She wrote out some last wishes a few years ago that she wanted to be realized upon her death and I quote: “Shed a few tears, but mainly rejoice, because this ol’ gal has had a fairly nice life”. Judy was preceded in death by her parents, Elden and Evelyn Fitzke; her brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Shari Engel; and brother, Steve Engel. Judy is survived by her son, Dan (Marilyn) Foote; granddaughters, Kelsee Foote and Natalee Foote; sister-in-Law, Rita Engel and many nieces and nephews.

Tributes

Judith Ann Foote

August 31, 1948 - August 27, 2023