By Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

MIAMI | Sallye Jude, an iconic presence in South Florida Catholicism as well as environmental and historic preservation, died as she lived: fully engaged.

The day before her death, the 96-year-old widow and mother of seven attended, as usual, the daily 8 a.m. Mass at her parish, St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center in Coral Gables. That evening, she shared an early Christmas dinner with her son, Peter Jude, and his family.

“She didn’t just come for dinner. She brought dinner,” said Jude, referring to a a catered barbecue dinner she had ordered from a restaurant in Kansas City, along with a salad, appetizers, and cookies she had baked. “And [she] apologized for not bringing the beverages.”

After going home with another son, John, that evening, she suffered a cerebral aneurysm and died at 11:41 p.m. the next day, Dec. 23, 2022, at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski called her death “the passing of an age” in South Florida.

“She was a wonderful woman, active in her church to the very end,” he told the Miami Herald. “She had a lot of boys. None of them became priests, but through her and her husband’s support of the seminary, she had a lot more boys that did become priests.”

Aside from her total involvement in three parishes during the nearly 60 years she lived here – St. Hugh in Coconut Grove, Epiphany in South Miami, and St. Augustine for the past 20 years – Jude for decades worked to encourage vocations to the priesthood and religious life through her involvement with the Serra Club.

Her late husband, Dr. James Jude, who pioneered CPR, got involved first, back in the late 1970s and ‘80s, when the Serra Club admitted only men. But he would host meetings at their house. Eventually, Sallye served as president of the Miami Serra Club, and urged her son, Peter, to do the same.

“She didn’t ask me, she told me that I needed to be president,” said Jude, now the club’s immediate past president. At the time, the Miami Serra Club had only six members. It has 115 now, and was recognized this year for having the largest membership increase of any Serra Club in the U.S.

Sallye Jude also was a big supporter of St. John Vianney College Seminary, and a two-time recipient of its Curé of Ars award. The honor recognizes those whose lives reflect the qualities of Christian dedication and service that marked the life of St. John Vianney.

Jude also was an Omnia Omnibus Circle member of the Archbishop’s Charities and Development Drive (ABCD), an active member of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, and actively involved in Emmaus retreats.

“She loved her faith,” said Peter Jude, noting that his mother began every day with morning Mass at St. Augustine, “front left pew, aisle seat.” Last Thursday, she was especially happy, telling him: “I went to Mass today and Father Vigoa stayed and I was able to confess with him.”

Father Richard Vigoa was one of three priests who gave her last rites in the hospital. He is pastor of St. Augustine.

“Sallye was a wonderful and faithful woman, a daily communicant and a champion of vocations, who worked generously throughout her long life to build up the Kingdom of God,” Father Vigoa said. “She will be greatly missed, and we commend her to her heavenly reward. I was honored to be her pastor.”

Last October, Jude attended the Eucharistic Marian Congress put on by the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

“She went all three days,” said Peter Jude. “She wasn’t going to miss anything. And she sat in the front row. Nothing was going to slow her down. She lived the way she wanted: fully engaged until the end. Front pew, front line, front row of the commission meeting. That’s just how she was.”

Sallye Garrigan Jude was born in Baltimore, Maryland, May 27, 1926. She got a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a master’s in education from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. She met James Jude at a church club and they were married from 1952 until his death in 2015. To help support their growing family, she taught in the Baltimore school system until they moved to Coral Gables in 1964, when he joined the medical faculty of the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital.

She immediately became involved in local community organizations, becoming close friends with environmental activist and “The Everglades: River of Grass” author Marjory Stoneman Douglas. The two weathered Hurricane Andrew together, and Jude accompanied Stoneman Douglas to Washington, D.C., when she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993. Jude also fought successfully for the historic preservation of Stoneman Douglas’ home.

She was a founding member and past president of the Dade Heritage Trust and helped spearhead the creation of the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. In addition to her involvement in Catholic organizations, she served as an officer in myriad civic groups, among them the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables, the Coral Gables Garden Club, the Dade Reading Foundation and the Deering Estate Foundation.

His mother had three priorities, Peter Jude said: “first God, then her husband and family, then the environment and historic preservation.”

“She challenged everybody not just to say, ‘Do something,’ but to themselves do something,” he said. And not just to get involved, but to “get in front and lead.”

“It was never just to be a member but to be an engaged member,” he said. “It’s easy to give up. But it’s our world. It’s our environment. It’s our history. You need to be engaged.”

In addition to sons Peter and John, Jude is survived by five other children: Robert, Cecilia, Roderick, Victoria and Christopher, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

A viewing will take place Friday, Jan. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Stanfill Funeral Home, 10545 S. Dixie Highway, Miami. The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, at St. Augustine Church, 1400 Miller Road, Coral Gables.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations in her name be made to:

• Serra Club of Miami, www.serraclubmiami.org
• Friends of the Everglades, www.everglades.org/donate
• Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, www.floridatrust.org/donate.

Editor's note: This article has been updated since it was posted to reflect the fact that Sallye Jude was a member of St. Augustine Parish in Coral Gables for the past 20, not 15, years.