"Well, if you're reading this then you've already guessed that I, Judith R. Browning of Honolulu, Hawaii, have passed on into the next dimension, at my own time and of my own free will. For this I am grateful. I want to thank all those stalwart advocates who fought successfully to pass the legislation that would give me and others the freedom to make a choice. My life has been filled with surprises. Who would have thought a girl from a tobacco farm in Connecticut would end up living in Hawaii, a place that existed only in my dreams. I was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1942. My family moved to Manchester, Connecticut from Poquonock, Connecticut in 1952 where I attended Hollister Elementary School.
I graduated from Manchester High in 1960 and then from St. Joseph College in West Hartford Connecticut. I married Edmund J. Gorman and had a daughter, Sara Bryce who lives in Louisiana, both of whom survive me.
I had careers in teaching, business, and moved to Hawaii in 1959. I had dreamed of living in Hawaii since I was a child watching Arthur Godfrey on TV, playing his ukulele in the surf in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. What a surprise it was to me when Edmund agreed to live there.
I have had two more husbands, Louis McKeague of Hawaii & Dallas, and Frederick Browning of the world. Freddy was a man full of life and surprises. One minute I was in Bab Kissingin, Germany, the next minute I was in Tahiti. Freddy passed from prostate cancer in 2013.
Cancer is a thief. It robs you of pleasures one by one. I lost a husband, then I lost an arm to paralysis. I could no longer cook or play the piano. I had always hoped that I would be able to choose when to leave this life, and as a final surprise to me, state legislation was finally passed. Just in time, period.
I passed away on Saturday, May 30th, 2020 at sunset surrounded by good friends. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions, my family, Bule, Linda, and Emily Grant could not come from Manchester, Connecticut.
And so, I have come to the end of my story,
sipping champagne by the surf at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
I have lived a full and happy life
and I am grateful to be able to choose how and when it ends. "
