Judy Maitland Prouty, 84, of Highland Park, Illinois, passed away peacefully on December 8, 2025. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Judy lived a life marked by curiosity, community service, and an enduring love of learning.

Judy was educated in public schools and graduated from Arlington Heights High School before earning her degree from Mundelein College in 1980. She married Richard Colby Prouty on September 23, 1961, and together they raised three children.

Throughout her career, Judy demonstrated both professional acumen and entrepreneurial spirit. For many years she was the Vice President of Marketing at Instamedex in Franklin Park, Illinois, and later founded her own resume writing service in Dundee, where she was an early adopter of desktop publishing on a Macintosh computer.

Judy was deeply invested in her community of Bartlett, where she served as Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission and on the Bartlett Public Library board. In 1974, she wrote, produced, and directed Thank You Luther B, a musical celebrating the centennial of Bartlett's founding.

Her interests were as varied as they were passionate. An avid birdwatcher, Judy held the distinction of recording the first documented sighting of a Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) in Northern Illinois. She loved literature and music, her tastes ranging from the funk of Sly and the Family Stone to Italian opera. In her later years she could often be found sitting by Lake Michigan, writing in her journal. A lifelong learner, she maintained a keen interest in science, particularly physics and astronomy, and devoted time to researching the history of the Elgin Mental Hospital.

Judy was preceded in death by her parents, Roger King Maitland and Muriel Orrell Seegers, and her brother Roger Maitland. She is survived by her sister Laura; her uncle Jan Maitland; her three children, Richard (Sarah), Gwendolyn (Steven), and Elizabeth (Stephen); and six grandchildren: Benjamin and Jillian Prouty; Ryan and Phoebe Morris; and Sylvie and Anabel Thompson.

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