Judy was born on the southside of Chicago in 1943, the daughter of Louis & Adeline Pienta. With her parents, Judy, her brother John and sister Betty lived down the block from Saints Peter & Paul parish in the McKinley Park neighborhood, where she attended grammar school. Judy had a beautiful voice and played the lead in her high school play “Meet Arizona”, a vivid memory of her sister Betty was learning all the words to the songs due to Judy practicing at home every day. After graduating from Saint Joseph High School, you would find Judy dressed to impress taking the CTA bus to work at Mayor Daley’s Committee for Economic & Cultural Development. She met Larry Gierut from the neighborhood and went on their first date to Chesdan’s pizza. They would eventually marry in 1964. Larry went off to Vietnam in 1968 at which time the 1st of her 4 children (Lynette) was born whom she cared for without Larry until he returned home 7 months later. They would go on to have 3 more children (Michael, Kristin & Patrick) over the next 4 years. Judy, Larry and the family lived on the southside before moving to Justice in the suburbs and then moving out to Crystal Lake for 2 years. In 1980 they moved the family to Willow Springs where they would stay for the next 42 years.

A devout Catholic, Judy loved St. Cletus and was involved in volunteering whenever she had spare time between raising 4 kids, making dinners, doing laundry and working. Judy cared for and loved her family almost to a fault. It made sense that she would go on to work at LaGrange hospital. She started as a nurse’s aide at night while the kids were younger and eventually stayed as a registrar in admitting and making many friends over the years. She retired from the hospital in 2003 after having heart surgery and went on to help care for several of her 10 grandchildren (Joe, Lou, Addy, John, Maggie, Harry, Grant, Stephanie, Bobby and Emily). Judy loved baking, crafts, sewing, crocheting and quilting making many blankets for the grandkids. She inspired some of her kids and grandkids to take up these as hobbies. She was always willing to jump in the car for a day trip to Paducah or Port Washington for the quilt or craft show. She loved to treat the family to a trip to Disney or an ice cream at the Plush Horse. She enjoyed many trips up to Door County with the entire family.

Persevering through quadruple bypass surgery and surviving breast cancer without ever complaining were testaments to how tough she was. Judy was an avid sports fan, who loved watching the Bears, Blackhawks & White Sox on TV or live, but taking the family to Comiskey Park after stopping at Connies so they could bring pizza to the game was her favorite. She was a superfan of her children and grandchildren and along with Larry they attended more dance recitals and games of every youth sport than can possibly be counted. Judy has been described by almost all who knew her as a truly nice person with a beautiful smile. She will be greatly missed, but her lessons of caring for others, even those you don’t know, will live on for many years to come in all of us who had the pleasure of knowing her.

A memorial visitation will take place on Friday, May 29th from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at St. Cletus Catholic Church, 600 W. 55th Street, La Grange, IL. Mass will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. Interment is private.