Judy Marilyn Hayward

Judith, Marilyn, Hayward, October 4, 1943 – April 13, 2025

Judy was the eldest born of four children to Helen Isabel and Robert Gordon Hayward.

Judy attended Tamarisk School and later went on to attend Saint Boniface nursing school in Winnipeg, where she took her LPN. Graduating in 1963.

She met Richard Hepner while attending Saint Boniface. They married in 1964 and later divorced in 1982.

She gave birth to daughter, Marla (Hrychuk) in February 1964.

Judy and her family moved to Elma Manitoba in 1969, then to Grandview in 1970, where she began her nursing career part time. This later turned into a full-time position at the Grandview Hospital.

She was the MNU (Manitoba Nurses Union) president for 19 years and regional vice president for two years. Judy cared about the working conditions of her fellow nurses as well as the well-being of her patients. She felt that getting involved was a way that she could make a difference.

If you knew Judy well, you knew that she had a green thumb and the patience to use it. Her flowerbeds and her trees were her pride and joy.

She was a member of Communities in Bloom and preferred tending to her flowers more than tending to her vegetable garden. All those close to her also knew why she said that she only had a kitchen because it came with the house.

In her spare time, she also enjoyed crocheting and petite point. Many of the family members now have some of her work to cherish for years to come. 

Her love of horses was often a subject in conversations and in pictures that hung on her walls.

Judy felt that the most significant accomplishments in her life were watching her daughter grow up, her time as president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, and being able to take early retirement, so that she could watch her grandson Ethan, grow into the man that he is today.

Additionally, she felt that accepting Christ as her saviour in 1999 was a significant mile stone in her life.

Her favourite time of year was spring, where you would often find her making trenches to drain the water away in her yard. She felt that spring renewed her faith in life after death, as in spring, what appears dead comes back to life. 

Judy was predeceased by her parents, Helen Isabel and Robert Gordon Hayward. She is survived by daughter Marla (Michael) Hrychuk of Roblin MB, grandson Ethan (Emily)Hrychuk of Calgary, Sisters Marnie (Lloyd) Beckley of Gilbert Plains, Susan (Ivan) Evans of Grandview, brother Peter (Shelley) Hayward of Grandview, along with many nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held Saturday, June 21 at 3 PM at the Tamarisk cemetery, Grandview Manitoba. Pastor Randy Moffit officiating. In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Siloam Mission in Winnipeg.

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