Judy Buckle Airhart 65 Millard Court Springboro, OH 45066 937-825-0233 judyairhart@msn.com
Spouse:
Robert E. Airhart II ‘66
Children:
Robert III (1969) and Matthew (1971)
Grandchildren:
Vivienne (10), Beatrix (8), April (7) and Fiona (4)
My “since Otterbein” experiences actually began before leaving Otterbein. Having attended summer school for three summers, I was able to complete all my classwork at Otterbein by the end of the first semester of my senior year. I continued to live in the dorm, however, while beginning my professional teaching career in Westerville City Schools. I was engaged to Bob Airhart, and our wedding and my graduation took place in the same weekend. I taught on Friday; our wedding rehearsal was Friday night; our wedding was on Saturday, followed by baccalaureate and commencement on Sunday. Monday, I went back to teach the last week of school, then we were off to Cleveland to begin a summer job. How’s that for the beginning of life after Otterbein?
During Bob’s senior year at Otterbein, I continued to teach in Westerville. While Bob was in seminary, I taught in Dayton Public Schools and earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Miami University. During his intern year, I taught in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. We moved to Cleveland in 1970, where Bob was appointed pastor of an inner city church. For six years, I stayed home with our two sons and volunteered at the YWCA working on issues of racial justice. In part because of my volunteer experience, in 1976, I was hired by the Cuyahoga Plan of Ohio, a non-profit agency whose mission was to eliminate discrimination in housing and reduce patterns of housing segregation. I worked there for twelve years, first as associate director and then as executive director. It was an exciting, meaningful, and challenging time that included physical threats to me and my family by people who did not want to see changes in housing patterns. In 1988, Bob and I moved to the Columbus area so he could work on a second master’s degree, this time in chemical dependency counseling. I was employed by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to develop a statewide parent education program. Later responsibilities at ODE included dropout prevention, safe and drug-free schools, health education and regional school improvement services. We moved to Springboro, Ohio (south of Dayton), in 2000 to be near our parents, all four of whom were living at Otterbein Retirement Community in Lebanon. During our entire married life, Bob’s and my parents had come to our house for holidays, birthdays, and “just because” days. Recognizing how fortunate we were to have all four parents living in the same community, we decided to move from