Judith Evelyn Filter

Judith Evelyn Filter (Judy), 76, of Taylor was called home by her Lord and Savior early Sunday morning, December 3, 2023.

Judy was born on December 13, 1946, in Watertown, WI to Clarence and Margaret (Hilker) Bukatz. She was the oldest of the four children in the family with two sisters and one brother. Judy graduated from Oconomowoc High School in 1965 and attended Watertown Business School where she completed The Secretarial Science Course in May of 1966. Upon completion of the course, Judy and two of her closest high school friends loaded up their two vehicles and traveled to California in search of adventure and to escape the brutal winter climate of Wisconsin.

While living in Long Beach, CA, Judy worked for the American Red Cross in a secretarial position. She and her friends visited the beach often, which is where she met her first husband, Ronald Garza, a sailor serving in the US Navy. They were married in November of 1969. Once discharged from the Navy, Judy and Ronald moved to Austin, TX where they began a family and had three children, a son and two daughters, John, Marie (Missy) and Samantha. With three children, 4 and under, they moved their family to a small farmhouse out in the country, just south of Taylor. Judy raised her children and made her home there until earlier this year when she was no longer able to live on her own.

Judy was devoted to her three children and the countless sports, band, and extra-curricular activities they were involved in until she successfully became an empty-nester. She worked in several administrative positions in her career in Taylor and Round Rock before retiring in 2013 from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice where she was an advocate for victims’ families.  Retirement didn’t slow Judy down, though, as she was a seasoned grandmother by then and attended a multitude of school lunches and events for her seven grandchildren over the years. Judy loved to be with people and spend her time with family and friends. She loved animals and living the peaceful and quiet life out in the country. She found so much joy in crafting, she embraced whole-heartedly the 80’s and 90’s and the fads of painted shirts, shoes, accessories, and crafty home décor, and she was so amazing at it! Judy also enjoyed traveling and family vacations and was quite the vacation planner, especially on a budget. She and her children visited her Wisconsin family as often as she could, still trying to avoid those winters whenever possible. You could say cold weather and snow were her greatest adversaries in life and like most people in Texas, she got here as fast as she could!

Judy is preceded in death by her parents, Clarence Bukatz and Margaret (Hilker) Bukatz, and her sister, Sandra Kay Branski, and beloved in-laws, Andrew and Billie Garza.

Judy is survived by her three children, John Garza and Holly of Taylor, Marie (Missy) Gregory of Taylor, and Samantha Findley and Matt of Pflugerville; her seven grandchildren, Kristen Garza, Emily Ellington and Darin, Chance Garza, Lauren Garza, Noah Hurst and Crystal, Benjamin Gregory and Jacob Gregory; two step-grandchildren, John Ryan Gregory and Trenton Gregory; six great-grandchildren, William and Wraegan Ellington, Wrenley Nelson, and Hayden, Maverick and Zelda Hurst, who arrived in this world just as her Oma was leaving this world; her brother Gerry Bukatz and Debbie and baby sister, Rebecca Borkenhagen and Dennis; along with her first husband, Ronald Garza and Peggy, extended daughter, Andrea Montecinos and extended granddaughters Sophia and Olivia, sisters-in-love Deanna Fenwick and William, and Beverly Johnson and David, a beautiful aunt and matriarch of her Texas family, Perry Mae Hill, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews and extended family all whom she loved and adored with all of her heart.

Visitation will be held from 5:00-7:00pm on Sunday, December 10, 2023, at Providence Funeral Home. Funeral Services will be held at 2:00pm on Monday, December 11, 2023, at Providence Funeral Home with Burial Service to follow at Taylor City Cemetery. Reception to follow at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall.

We would like to thank Mom’s Baylor Scott and White Hospice team, BSW Hospital in Round Rock, and the wonderful staff at Falcon Ridge Rehabilitation Center in Hutto for the amazing care that our mother received over the last several months. We are forever thankful and grateful for the abundance of love, amazing care and dignified support that she received in her final months with us.