August 26, 1937 - July 27, 2025
Judith Elaine Gold Rocchio died peacefully at Hillsborough County Nursing Home on July 27, 2025. Dear friends and family surrounded her throughout the day. Born in NYC on August 26, 1937 to Rose (Gamso) and Irving Gold, Judy was a true New Yorker. A founding member of a childhood club, “The Goobers,” friendships spanned 80 of her 88 years. She left Forest Hills High School for college at 15, entering the University of Rhode Island. Judy was a member of Sigma Delta Tau, became vice president of her class, participated in musical theater productions, and graduated with a BA in English. At URI Judy met Anthony Rocchio to whom she was married from August of 1958 to 1974. They moved their family to Vermont from Rhode Island in 1963, where this New Yorker continued to cherish time by the ocean and discovered a love of the mountains of Vermont, a love she fostered in her children. She was an accomplished writer and artist. As a young mother raising her family in Warren, she shared her talent teaching art in the Mad River Valley elementary schools.
An avid advocate for the underserved, Judy was a spirited community-builder, activist and self-proclaimed “flagwaver.” Animated, outspoken, true to her roots, she dedicated her support to many local and national Democratic candidates. Of her many community roles, Judy helped organize the Audrey Prouty Century Ride, was a founding and loving member of the Shir Shalom and a member of the UVJC, and served on the founding board of Advance Transit, providing free public transportation to the Upper Valley, the lasting socioeconomic impacts of which are still felt today.
Judy discovered her most passionate work at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center where, among other things, she was instrumental in helping local outpatients find transportation to their treatments. She received an award for excellence in her unique role in resource access from James Varnum, president of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital.
Her license plate, Tzdaka (sic), celebrated the Hebrew word for charitable acts towards others. Her final gift was an anatomical donation to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
Judy is survived by her four children, Anne Elizabeth (Chris Dodge), David (Jacqueline Ennis), Paul, and Tina, and five grandchildren, Giulia, Callum, Arianna, Benjamin, and Antonia. The family thanks her longtime caregiver, Darlene Dubuque, and all the competent and caring staff of Hillsborough County Nursing Home.
