Penny Candy Penguin

Penny Candy Judy 

(October 17, 1945 – September 10, 1986)

Today is my sister, Judy’s birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 65 years old. She passed away 24 years ago on September 10, 1986. I still miss her and think about her often. Judy was a great older sister and role model. She made me laugh—a lot! She used to do a hilarious pantomime—about a little girl biting the end off her ice cream cone, that always brought fits of laughter. She was one of those rare individuals who could light up the room just by entering it.

Through a series of coincidences this year, I heard from two of Judy’s BYU theater friends and cast mates. They generously shared some cute stories about Judy that I’d never heard before. Apparently she made a lot of people laugh! Her friends, Carol Brown and Janet Swenson, were both in the 1968 BYU theater production of “Bye, Bye, Birdie” with Judy. Judy was cast as the lead character, dreamy-eyed teenaged “Kim McAfee,” played by actress Ann-Margret in the 1963 movie. Janet played the hilarious, overbearing mother, played by actress Maureen Stapleton. Carol played one of the teenage girlfriends. It was a great cast and a wonderful production that toured all over Europe that summer. For Judy, it was the trip of a lifetime for a young college student! It was also the summer before 23-year-old Judy married her “Neal.” They spent 18 years together and had five children before she had to leave this life much to soon. Leukemia was just as scary of a word in 1986 as it continues to be today. However, in the short (almost 41 years) that she was with us, she lived life to the fullest!

Carol said Judy was just a “doll” (literally a short 4’ 8” doll of a girl who always wanted to be 5 feet).  “She was always so giggly and cute and happy and positive,” Carol told me.  They called her their “Penny Candy Penguin,” as she always had a stash of penny candy.  Judy LOVED penny candy! And being so short had advantages to an established lover of candy. She’d dress up and go “trick-or-treating” even as a BYU college student!

That summer in 1968, on tour in Germany, Judy discovered “Gummy Bears,” long before they were popular in the United States.  She introduced them to the entire Bye, Bye, Birdie cast and soon they all fell in love with them too.  Janet said Judy’s nickname became “Penny Candy Penguin” because she’d always goof around by waddling like a penguin and telling everyone she was on a diet. She’d say, “I’m on a diet. My diet is eating penny candy until I became so sick of sugar that I won’t be able to eat it for weeks!!”  To top that off, in a hilarious coincidence, Judy married a “candy man,” who became the president of Maxfield’s Chocolates! Her cast mates got a huge kick out of that.

True to her penny candy reputation, at their ten-year Bye, Bye, Birdie reunion in 1978—held in Salt Lake City at the old De la Fontana Restaurant, Judy showed up with a never-before-opened bag of European gummy bears she had been saving since Germany!!!  Everyone about died laughing and couldn’t believe it.  To their delight, Judy shared them. 

Humorous as well, Carol said that prior to their departure for Europe Judy put her on to “thigh high nylons,” then sold only at the old Millcreek Pharmacy which was on the North East corner of 2300 East 3300 South in Salt Lake, where Judy grew up.  Carol would actually drive up from Provo just to buy them!

That was so Judy! She was always finding the latest craze and telling everybody about them—so they could get them too. After my sisters and I were married with children, Judy turned us on to everything from “Pound Puppies” to “Strawberry Shortcake Dolls” to “Cabbage Patch Kids.” I stood in many early morning lines trying to help her get a favorite Madam Alexandra Doll, when there was only one per customer. I laugh just thinking about it now, knowing she would have been obsessed with collecting Beanie Babies too! However, Penny Candy was her true memorable trademark obsession. Whenever we’d stay up late playing games at our Bear Lake summer family cabin, she'd bring out boxes of penny candy—gummy bears, gummy red raspberries, and gummy Swedish fish. She had licorice in all colors, shapes, and sizes. It was penny candy heaven!

So today in remembrance, I am sharing these happy memories—along with the new memories given to me—all rolled into one.  I have a big smile on my face, thinking about her as I write this. I am so full of gratitude for the stories her friends have shared with me, bringing a little of her delicious personality back to me, as if it were yesterday. Interestingly, when I contacted Janet she said she’d been thinking about “Birdie” a lot in recent months. Coincidently she’d even had a note from the Dean’s secretary at BYU asking her if she’d been in the show, wanting her to identify the actors in the production photo. It’s amazing how Heavenly Father puts things together for us, isn’t it!

“Bye, Bye, Birdie,” 1968 Production Photo; BYU European Tour

(Judy is the third person from the left.)