In Memoriam Judith Rosemary Mackenow, LLB (née Lucas) 10.9.49 - 26.7.25
Published on 09/09/25
Judith was born in Cambridge and was a pupil at Newnham Croft School and then The Perse School For Girls in the early to mid 1960s.
After leaving school, she studied at the Guildford Law School, commuting to and from Cambridge at weekends on a fairly high-powered motorbike, black leathers and all. This was at about the time (1968) of an awful but very popular film called The Girl On A Motorcycle, starring Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon. Judith took the inevitable teasing in the right spirit!
On passing her exams she returned to Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor at the local firm of Few And Kester (nicknamed Queue And Fester!) where she met her future husband, Brian. After a couple of years living in The Fens at Willingham, they decided on a big move, both geographically and professionally, northwards to post-industrial Sunderland, where Brian was eventually able to set up his own legal practice - and enjoy both Roker Park and later the Stadium Of Light!
Over the next fifty years there were three house moves and a cottage renovation in Teesdale. Children, Helen and Robert, were born, and later grandchildren, Erin and Lucas. When the children had grown up, Judith returned to her legal work, first with the Tyne and Wear Transport Authority and later she joined Brian’s firm as a partner.
Judith’s love of animals led her to become Chair of the Durham Wildlife Trust and also, on a much wider scale, Chair of the RSPCA nationally, until a policy disagreement led to her resignation from the latter. At home all this time there was a succession of seven rescue cats and three dogs to be cared for with exotic names like Chaos, Steppenwolf, Moonshadow, Montypiffle and Winston, as well as the many birds in the mature trees of her final beloved city centre garden.
Judith and Brian were both splendidly social hosts and there were many, many marvellously decorated Christmases, all high-lighted by Judith’s superb cooking.
Sadly, Judith’s last few years were dogged by health issues. Two painful and only partly-successful heart procedures and a fall resulting in several cracked discs in her back were endured with a stoical, brave face. However, two years ago Judith and Brian were able to celebrate their Golden Anniversary and a very successful marriage together, faithfully supporting each other through both sickness and health, through bad times and good.
Judith was my dear, lovely, kind, generous, good-natured, hard-working and multi-talented sister. She was a role model and an example to us all, and she will be sorely missed by her family, relatives and many friends in both Sunderland and Cambridge.