On Sunday, Dec. 13, on what would have been her 82nd birthday, Jude McCombie received an honour befitting one of the community’s most dedicated arts supporters.
Local theatre troupe Ham Sandwich, of which Jude was an active member, dedicated its production of Harvey to her memory.
“She was a terrific lady,” says Tom Heine, who directed the play. “She liked performing and she always wanted to be involved.”
Heine came to know Jude well over the years, playing opposite her in several productions, including Toad of Toad Hall, A Christmas Carol, Drop Dead! and Oliver Twist.
He says Jude was a “more or less constant presence backstage” at local shows, where she helped out with tasks such as costume preparation and prompts for actors.
“She was one of those people you figure will be around forever,” Heine says.
In a way, she will be. When Jude passed away in August, she left behind a legacy with the many residents whose lives she touched.
In addition to her volunteer work with Ham Sandwich, Jude sang in the Flin Flon Community Choir and helped with the social committee of the Flin Flon Arts Council.
In earlier years, she was also a member of the now-defunct Flin Flon Glee Club.
As an actress, Jude was eager and well prepared, says friend Linda Allen, who notes that Jude really shone behind the scenes.
“Jude was a good friend,” says Allen, recalling her readiness to support arts initiatives by selling tickets for fundraisers, organizing events with the social committee and attending as an audience member.
Allen says that while most people look the other way when asked to help with costume storage, Jude was eager to help.
“It wasn’t easy back then, when we had everything stored in boxes in the upper cage on the side of the [RH Channing Auditorium] stage,” she says. “I had wanted to clean it out and sort all of the ‘goodies’ that we had...but had no takers until Jude offered to help. There we were, looking at a mountain of broken boxes and ‘stuff’ all over the wings. It took us several days but we got it done [sorting, purging, labeling, and reboxing the collection] and had fun at the same time.”
Flin Flon Arts Council and community choir member Jan Imrie became friends with Jude through the arts council and later drove her to choir practice once a week.
“She pitched in with whatever there was to do,” says Imrie. “If we were cleaning up after an event and she had a chance to leave early, she would not go. She would stay until the end.”
With her bright smile, Jude was adored by her 13 grandchildren and was, according to daughter Corinne Knutson, a sort of adopted grandmother to many more local kids.
“She must have handed out millions of cookies,” says Knutson with a laugh.
Lauren Fox, 13, took piano lessons with Jude for eight years. What she’ll miss most about her former teacher are “lessons that went way longer than intended because we got off-topic, funny stories and words of wisdom.”
She and her older brother Brad, 16, describe Jude as passionate, feisty and caring.
Mark Kolt, accompanist for the Flin Flon
Community Choir, adds “fearless” to the description.
“She maintained an ambitious schedule, and was always ready to try something new, from hairstyles to different artistic pieces in theatre and in music,” he says. “She was just somebody who lived her life to the fullest every single second.”
Into her 80s, Jude radiated that zest for life.
“She was delightfully independent,” recalls Imrie. ”I learned not to offer her my arm when crossing an icy patch. She would respond, ‘I have good boots and I’ll be fine.’ She said this with a smile.”
Jude was born in Ridgedale, Saskatchewan, and raised on Vancouver Island. Her mother had multiple sclerosis and passed away when Jude was 11.
Jude and her two siblings were sent to live with their maternal grandparents in Ridgedale.
That’s where Jude met her husband, Bill McCombie. The two lived on Bill’s homestead until they sold it, and moved to Creighton, having bought an auto service business called OK Service.
The couple settled into the community and raised six children: Wendy (Lofgren), Pat (Manzuik), Jerry, Grant (known as “Tar”), Corinne (Knutson) and Todd.
In her 40s, Jude took up the piano, a hobby that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
In 1975 the McCombie family moved to Swan River, with the three youngest kids in tow. Jude got involved in the arts community there, helping out with music festivals in the area.
When Bill passed away in the early ’90s, Jude decided to move back to Creighton.
“She always liked it here and always wanted to come back,” says Deb McCombie, Jude’s daughter-in-law.
With four kids in Creighton at the time, and plenty of local friendships, Jude reintegrated into Creighton with relative ease.
She taught piano, cleaned houses and expanded her circle by taking part in local theatre and music productions.
Jude also volunteered with the Roots of Empathy program at École McIsaac School, in which students learn about empathy and caregiving through regular interactions with a local infant and his or her parent.
“She always liked to take part and be around people,” Knutston says.
In August 2015, Jude McCombie suffered a massive brain aneurysm and passed away shortly thereafter. She is survived by her six children, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
