John Judge has died

[Peter Lemkin]

Dear FOJ ~



Already we have reached the anniversary of that decisive day, when John Judge embarked on his new adventure. I hope that his consciousness is expanding every moment and that, wherever he is now, he is much happier than we are here without him.


For those of you who read poetry, I am attaching a PDF version of "Thunder Man," the booklet of poems I wrote for John. Some of you may already have a hard copy, because I distributed the booklets at John's National Press Club memorial service. This anniversary might also be a good time to view his memorial service on Youtube, if you haven't already done so. Here is the link:


A Celebration of the Life of John Judge May 31, 2014

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[TD="colspan: 2"]A Celebration of the Life of John Judge May 31, 2014

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[TD="colspan: 1"]View on http://www.youtube.com
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Preview by Yahoo

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I recall so vividly those days when John was struggling valiantly to recover from his stroke, and all my long update letters to those of you who love him. I will never forget your kindness and support. I couldn't have made that journey without all of you by my side.

Just the other day, one of John's friends told me how much he still misses John. He said he always relied on John to be there, speaking truth to power, and then suddenly he was gone. "I feel like my chair has been pulled out from under me," he said. We all feel that way.

But now it is up to us to pick up where John left off. We can never replace him. We may never be able to match his dedication. But at least we can make sure his work was not in vain and is not forgotten.

This has been a year of sorrow, but also of great change. Despite obstacles, we have made significant progress in carrying on John's legacy. We have established the Hidden History Center in Falls Church, VA, the town where John grew up, and we have moved approximately 80% of his collection to the new Rowell Court facility. Another moving day is scheduled for April 18 or 25. We will be transporting 9 filing cabinets, empty bookcases, and about 50-60 more boxes, including the remainder of the Ralph McGehee Library. We hope to be completely moved out of John's house in DC by the end of May or June. That is a huge accomplishment, considering that none of us is able to devote full-time effort to the project!

The Hidden History Center has entered an exciting new phase. We have added Robert Falotico from Long Island to the Board. Rob has long been instrumental in preserving the work of John's mentor and friend, Mae Brussell. Our Assistant Director, John's dear friend Dave Ratcliffe (ratical.org), has been spearheading a huge effort to create a Hidden History Center website. He has been working on it behind the scenes for some time now with our web guru, Uriah Maynard. We hope it will debut some time this summer. It will still be evolving and growing at that time, but it will be a great user-friendly resource for info on hidden history.

Meanwhile, at the Hidden History Center itself, we will have two major priorities: (1) making an inventory of all of John's books; and (2) organizing and digitizing the papers and documents in John's collection, so that they can eventually be made available on line. For now, we will continue to work on weekends and seek the help of interns and volunteers. (I haven't yet seen my way clear to quit my job and move to Virginia.)

If you are in the Falls Church or DC area and can help with either of these projects on weekends, please let me know. We can always use more volunteers. If you want to support our efforts financially, you can still make a donation through PayPal at our website, or you can send a check payable to the Museum of Hidden History to me ~ Marilyn Tenenoff, P.O. Box 514, New Cumberland, PA, 17070. Any donation helps, no matter how small, and it lets us know you are on our team.

During this next week especially, we hope you will carry John Judge in your heart and follow his example by trying to live your life with the integrity, courage and dedication that he exhibited every day. Please also send healing thoughts my way, as I feel his loss more acutely this week. And if you pray, please pray for those who are working at the Hidden History Center to preserve and build on John's work, as we all face an uncertain future without his wise counsel.
With love and gratitude ~



Marilyn Tenenoff, Executive Director
Museum of Hidden History
Hidden History Center