Judith Swank’s Autobiography

I was born and raised in Highland county on a farm off of Route 247. My parents, Roger and Mary Jo Post raised three children – Hazel, David and me. I attended Hillsboro schools and graduated from Hillsboro High in 1965 as one of three valedictorians. The others were Tamara Rogers and William Wilkin. I have always had a great love of animals and majored in Zoology as a Freshman Honor Scholar at the Ohio State University where I graduated with a B.Sc. in 1969. I worked in a lab for a year and then entered graduate school where I studied physiology and graduated with a PhD in 1974. I then went to Michigan State University for three years – two as a postdoctoral fellow and one as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology. I returned to Columbus, Ohio, in 1977 and then taught anatomy, physiology and any other bio science as needed at the Columbus State Community College until 2002.

I retired in 2002 and lived for two years in San Diego, California. After my husband died in 2003, I remarried and now live in Florida during the winter and Hillsboro in the summer. I returned to Hillsboro in 2003 and bought a mini-farm out on Concord road. We have chickens, geese, turkeys, ducks and rabbits. I participate in the Highland county fair by entering garden produce, eggs and canned goods in the culinary arts show. One year I was the “green bean queen” as I won Sweepstakes for the canned produce. I was also the chili cook-off champion for three years, and recently won the chili cook-off at the Highland County Senior Center competition. I love all things to do with farming and preserving produce and, of course, eating the produce. I am also getting back into drawing and painting and joined the Brush and Palette Art Guild last year. In high school Virginia Morris was our art teacher, and I loved her and any kind of art that she taught.

I am really excited about being the president of the HCRTA for the next two years and look forward to serving our members and the community.