Judith A. Schiebout was born on November 16, 1946 and passed away on September 24, 2020
Dr. Schiebout was a nationally known Paleontologist teaching at LSU
I remember Judy being quite, intellegent and kind when she spoke to me. I could only dream to be as smart as she. May she rest in peace with the knowledge that she lived a life well done. Reading all these acknowledgements and also, about all of her accomplishments makes me wish I'd know her better. These testaments to the kind of person she was should make us all proud of our classmate, of which I am.
This is my third try to post a comment and I hope this one goes through.
I did not know Judy much at all and that was probably because she was so much smarter than I and we didn't share classes together. I am so glad that she was such a success in her profession and envy her for that because I could not have gone so far as she did.
I am very sorry that other students were cruel to her just because she might have been different and that difference was probably because her intellengence was way above many of us. Shame on those that treated her unkindly.
She is now where NO ONE WILL TREAT HER UNKINDLY and she will be accepted by all. Bless her heart and God will keep her safe now and forever.
I am sorry for another loss of one of my class mates. jh
I didn't know Judy very well but she always had a smile on her face and a very calm demeanor. It was so evident as well that she was extremely intelligent. I do remember when some of our classmates who had a cruel nature taped a sign on her back (unknowingly to her) that said "I'm fine" at a time when "fine" meant that one was a very desirable individual and this sign was used to try and humiliate her and make her the butt of jokes. Some clowns also managed to pad the ballot box with votes for Homecoming Queen which made her the winner. This was such a surprise to her and I remember her beaming with happiness. Sadly her happiness had to be turned to embarrassment when the truth had to come out about how she had won. I was unable to imagine how any of our classmates could have been so cruel to a person who had never done them any harm. I'm so glad to hear how successful she was in her life. She was far more successful than so many of us could have ever imagined being.
"R.I.P., Judy, you're in a far better place now. The taunts, cruelty and misery are far behind you and have been for over 50 years. You were able to rise above them, be successful and take a well deserved place in life. I don't imagine your tormenters have been able to say the same".
Jan, Judith was always so kind to everyone and she always gave me a sweet smiles and told me NO that did not want to go riding with me on my motorcycle! But did give me a sweet smile for asking her!!!!
Hope you will allow me a story about Judith and two other classmates we have lost. After graduation I took one year at SAC, before going off to UT along with my friends Ken Kennon and Paul Kurth. Ken and Paul urged me to take a chemistry class with them (I never took chem at Lee) - "we will help you," they said, "it will be fun," they said. Judith Schiebout was also in the class, and we four were the only Lee-exes. I did not know Judith well, but I knew she a truly brilliant student in our 64-class. On day 1, the instructor said a condition of taking this class is one year of high school chemistry - those who did not know that may want to drop the course now. I hung in there, and Ken and Paul did help as promised.
On the day after the mid-term exam, the instructor asked 5 students to stay after class - the 4 of us from Lee and a girl from John Marshall. He told us we had made the only A grades on a very difficult test, and asked us each to tell him who our chem teacher was and what high school we were from. When the 4 of us said Lee, with 2 different chem teachers and I confessed I did not take chemistry - he asked "What the heck kind of high school did you people go to?"
(He also asked how Paul and Ken managed to cram a year of chemistry into my head one day a week for about 8 weeks? Lots of empty space, I guess.)
ADDENDUM -- All 5 of us subsequently went off to UT, and I learned the girl from Marshall was also named Judy. Ms Schiebout earned Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees at UT, in Geology, I think. She went on to a stellar career as a Professor and researcher at LSU. Paul got his engineering degree and became very successful in engineering and later in business. Ken transferred to another college and also did well in business. I becamed good friends with Judy from Marshall, who earned Masters in Chemistry and Geology. In unrelated news, she and I married in 1971. As busy people traveling different paths, we divorced some years later. She employed those degrees at NASA as a scientist in the Lunar Lab, an astronaut for a short time, and ulitmately as a lead scientist and Curator of the moon rocks.
I agree with Bryant...I wish more people would post stories. I didn't know Judith at all but do remember her. She seemed very quiet, and her accomplishments in life obviously enforce everyone's comments that she was very intelligent. It saddens me to hear that she was made fun of in high school. We were all in the same boat, just muddling our way through puberty and trying to find our identity as young adults. RIP, Judith. I hope success in life was sweet revenge.
Remembering Judith
Dr. Judith Ann Schiebout October 16, 1946 - September 24, 2020
Associate Professor, LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics Associate Curator, LSU Natural Science Museum
Bachelor's Degree: University of Texas, 1968 Master's Degree: University of Texas, 1970 PhD: University of Texas, 1973
A short biography of Dr. Judith Schiebout
Judith Ann Schiebout was born on October 16, 1946 in Tampa, Florida, to Joseph and Helen Mae (Castenholz) Schiebout. She was an only child. Her father was a career Air Force officer and the family moved often. Judith and her mother, Helen, followed Joe to Oberammergau, Germany shortly after she was born. Family lore has it that the family had to move whenever Judith had read all the books in the local library.
Judith’s father was one of eleven children, most of whom settled originally in southern Iowa. She is survived by many cousins living in Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and California, as well as her Aunt Dinah TerHorst, Sioux Center, Iowa, the youngest sister of her father’s family. In their later years, her parents lived with Judith in Baton Rouge until their deaths (Joe in 1993 and Helen in 1999).
Judith earned a BA (1968), an MA (1970) and a PhD (1973), all from the University of Texas at Austin. Judith’s vertebrate paleontology doctoral studies were centered in Big Bend National Park. Her last major research interest involved mammals from the Miocene period of Louisiana. Several of her former student, lead by Dr. Suyin Ting and Lorene Smith, are putting a book together about Judith’s vertebrate paleontology research in Louisiana.
In the last 25 years an aspect of Chinese vertebrate paleontology entered her interests when Dr. Suyin Ting came to the United States to study, first under her direction, and then alongside Dr. Schiebout.
Judith was a trailblazer in many ways. She earned a doctorate in geology
when there were few women in geology. She was among a group of United
States scientists invited to China in the early 1980s, which is where she first
met Suyin Ting Ding. Suyin came to LSU to work with Judith in 1980 with the
encouragement of Dr. Minchen Chow of the Institute of Vertebrate
Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Suyin’s extensive research has been
on the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in Asia with an international team of
researchers she developed. Suyin earned her doctorate under the guidance of Judith in 1995. Dr. Paul White (one of Judith’s doctoral students) spent two years in China (2005-07) in a post-doctoral position in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working with Professor Liu Tongsheng. This brings full circle the relationship of the vertebrate paleontology program at LSU with China, which began when Suyin came to LSU as a visiting scholar in 1980.
According to Judith’s vitae, nine of her students are now teaching or involved in museum work, others are employed as geologists in the oil and gas industry. Her students include: Kay Schrodt (MS, 1980), Jill Hartnell (MS, 1980), Linda Rice (MS, 1981), Thomas Klump (MS, 1982), Kathy Rigsby (MS, 1982), Winston Lancaster (MS, 1982), Herbert Martin (MS, 1986), Barbara Standhardt (Ph.D., 1986), Barry Albright (MS, 1991), Suyin Ting (Ph.D., 1995), Julia Sankey (Ph.D., 1998), David Hinds (MS, co- advised with Dr. Arnold Bouma, 1998), Alton Dooley (Ph.D., 1999), Ray Wilhite (Ph.D., 2003), Paul White (Ph.D., 2005), Michael Williams (Ph.D., 2009), Travis Atwood (MS, 2009), Julie Lynn Hill (MS, 2010), Mark Hagge (MS, 2010), and Lindsay Yann (MS, 2010). She was currently advising an undergraduate researcher, Connor White, at the time of her death.
Dr. Judith Schiebout entered the hospital with breathing problems not related to COVID on July 29, 2020. She was discharged to a rehabilitation center where she contracted COVID-19 in August of 2020. She recovered from the initial infection, but later died as a result of complications from the infection on September 24, 2020, in Denham Springs, LA.
Information provided by Marla Schiebout, Lois Kuyper-Rushing, LSU Public & Collection Services, History of Grand Rapids.org, and Dr. Schiebout’s curriculum vitae.
Judith with Joe and Helen. 1947.
Judith and Helen. 1948.
A memory from Dr. Suyin Ting Ding
Forty years ago, in June of 1980, I met you for the first time in the Baton Rouge airport. “How do you do?” I said to you with the English I have learned just a short time ago. I was surprised when your father drove us to your home: How do people have their own car? I remember I stood there staring at the shelves and doing nothing when you took me to the grocery store later. “Why don’t you choose something?” you said to me. “Choose?” To be honest, I had never seen so many dazzled foods before, and, to a person who has been living off food stamps, there have been few choices. I have never thought “choose” would be such a difficult issue for me. Then, I began two years of studies in LSU as a visiting scholar. You said to me “You can choose any courses you would like to audit. Just talk to the professors to get their permission”. That easy? I tried... and audited ten biology and anatomy courses. With this background, my colleague and I published a paper entitled “The structure of ear region of Rhombmylus (Anagalida, Mammalia)” in 1984, which was the first paper on the internal structure of cranial region of fossil mammals - a research field that had never been touched before in China. You supported my travel around the country to visit the institutions and universities. I was totally shocked by what I saw, which was extremely different from, and opposite to, what I had been told.
In October of 1983, I met you and Dr. Mary Dawson and Dr. Wilson’s family in the Beijing airport. You had very good visits to the most important fossil sites from the north in Inner Mongolia to the south in Gongdong Province. I remember when my colleague and I set up the meal in the hotel for you, and we had to leave, you were surprised and asked “Why?” I had no words, and you would never understand - we were not allowed to eat with you. I remember you were shocked when I invited you for lunch in my small two-room apartment that housed six people (including my paralyzed mom). You could not easily move and only sat there because it was full of beds, tables, and chairs. You asked me, “ You live like this to do your research work?”. You were so quiet after I said “Yes.”
Thirty year ago, in June of 1988, we reunited in the Baton Rouge airport. With your encouragement, I started my Ph.D. program under your mentorship when I was 50. I would never forget when the graduate school informed me after I started courses that I could not receive an assistantship because my T0EFL score (Test of English as a Foreign Language) was lower (by 3 points) than the assistantship required. You tried hard to have my status changed as a visiting scholar in order to get financial support, and I tried hard, retaking TOEFL about 10 times, and finally passed. With this assistantship, not only did I receive my Ph.D. at age 56, but I also raised my two sons who graduated with bachelor’s degrees from LSU. Equipped with a Ph.D. training, I led a US-China cooperative project on Asian Paleocene/Eocene boundary, resulting in a paper titled “Mammalian dispersal at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary” published in Science, 2002. The project was extended to cover Asian early Paleogene strata resulting in the paper “Asian early Paleogene chronology and mammalian
faunal turnover events” published in 2011. I have never forgotten, how in 1993 your father took us to the Fort Polk to see a new find, a three toe horse lower jaw, and the heavy rain was falling when we were in the field, and we were as wet as drowned rats. I knew it would hurt your bad leg; however, you forgot pain and discussed developing a big project with the officers. I remember you stayed in the parking area very late into the night, waiting for us to take the huge mastodon tusk from the Kerry site back to the lab. Now these two localities have produced hundreds of fossils and have become very important Miocene faunal sites in the south. They are correlated to the related faunas nationally and globally.
Nearly 20 years ago, you drove me to my naturalization
ceremony. I remember you and everybody in the ceremony congratulated us with big smile and cheers. Once my 20 years old son said to me, “Mom, I find you are a person who likes laughing a lot, but I have never seen you smile like that before.” Sorry son, I did not recognize I left you such bad impressions in your childhood. Yes, I found that I smiled for the first time at an LSU football game. As I passed by the crowds, their happiness, laughter, enjoyment touched me, and I smiled with them.
Thank you, Judith, for all the help you had given me. Thank you, Judith, for bringing laughter and smiles back to my life. Mr. and Mrs. Schiebout, I would like to thank you for treating me as a daughter, and I want to tell you that I have kept my promise. “Yes”, I told you when you said to me “Please stay with Judy.”
Many thanks, Judith, from bottom of my heart.
Dr. Suyin Ting
LSU Museum of Natural Science, Vertebrate Fossils Collections Manager & Research Associate
Suyin Ding’s graduation party at Dr. Schiebout’s home. Left to right: Lei(Suyin’s son), Suyin, McKenna, Judith, and Yan (Suyin’s son). 1995.
Curatorial Methods Course. 2015. Contributed by Lorene.
A field trip to Fort Polk. Contributed by Bill Lee.
Dr. Suyin Ding’s defense. 1995.
Left to right: Drs. SenGupta, McKenna, Schiebout, Hafner Lorenzo, Hazel & Tague.
A memory from Yan Haung
My heart is so heavy and saddened with the sudden passing of Dr. Judith A. Schiebout.
I have known Dr. Schiebout since I was a boy back in Beijing, China in 1983. Not knowing much English back then, all I remembered from that visit was how nice she was and her infectious laugh.
When I came to the U.S., she and her
wonderful family helped making the
tremendous transition in life so much easier
for me. I’ll never forget her weekly English
lessons, eating out with her family and all
the students, her pep talks before my
exams, and all her guidance and support
when I was in Baton Rouge.
Throughout my later career and life, we
talked even when I moved thousands of
miles away, and she had always
encouraged me to be the best person and
to do the right thing. When I went through the happiness and hardship in life, she was always there for me to share my thoughts , heartaches and joy.
A few weeks ago, I was not able to speak with Dr. Schiebout in the phone for long, since she was in the middle of a procedure in the hospital. We said we were going to speak again soon. I thought she’d have received treatment and gotten out of the hospital as she always had done... It was such a shock when my mother told us of her passing. I would always regret our incomplete phone call...that I’d never be able to listen to her voice again...
I will miss her smile, kindness to others and her positive personality. I will miss my dear friend, mentor and “my aunt.”
I know she is happy to be with her loving parents, Helen and Joe, in heaven. I hope I will make them proud.
May her soul rest in peace.
Suyin, Dr. Schiebout, and Suyin’s sons, Yan and Lei. LSU Graduation, May 1995. Contributed by Yan.
Yan Huang
A memory from Dr. Grant Boardman
Doctor Schiebout has always been like a mother to me, her loss is crushing.
I lost my mother to complications from multiple sclerosis one month before I started my first year at LSU in 1998. I had a very rough start; rudderless and adrift in the darkened sea that was freshman year. Then I took Dinosaurs and Disasters, and found a mentor who was smart, strong, with a dry humor, compassionate, opinionated, and who understood what I was going through. She gave me a glimmer of hope. Under her tutelage I opened back up, I grew not just as a paleontologist, but as a person.
My time at LSU was full of great
memories: all the times we drove
out to central Louisiana to collect
fossils at Fort Polk (even one
time having to take shelter
because an actual tiger was
loose on base); wandering the
creek beds of the Tunica Hills
looking for Pleistocene fossils
with Bill Lee (getting to publish
on a Paleolama dentary I found
there, Doc was so excited about
my find!); learning how to acid-
screen wash to get fossils from
hard conglomerates (a technique
Doc picked up in her time at UT-
Austin); getting to be on local
PBS to talk about the ancient Mastodon we found at the Tunica Hills/Kerry Site. I had my first two, peer-reviewed publications with Doc’s help; I also had my first taste of Durian ice cream at Doc’s behest (it was fantastic, if something that takes getting used to). In the fullness of time I also got to know many of Doc’s college classmates, colleagues, and friends, like Bruce MacFadden, Bill Lee, Fern Webb, and, of course, Suyin Ting. I got to build relationships with my fellow Paleo students colleagues: Michael Williams, Ray Wilhite, Brandon Kilbourne, Julie Hill, Travis Atwood, Mark Hagge, and Lindsay Yann, to name just a few. I even got a small scholarship to do some research at UC Berkeley, all because of Doc and her maternal guidance.
I gained the strength, confidence, and determination to move through the hard times to get my Master’s and eventually my PhD because of my relationship with Dr. Schiebout. I only hope she fully knew how much she meant to me and how much she shaped me as a person.
I miss you so much, Doc. I hope that wherever you are, you have some Durian ice cream and a good cat to cuddle with.
Dr. Grant S. Boardman
Research Associate, Arizona Museum of Natural History, Mesa, AZ
Adjunct Professor of Geology, Estrella Mountain Community College, Avondale, AZ
Dr. Schiebout excavating a fossil camel from Ft Polk Miocene deposits.
A memory from Dr. Julia Sankey
I met Judith Schiebout as a possible graduate advisor in a very round-about sort of way.... Long story short, this guy I knew had gone to LSU and had been in a class where Judith had given a guest lecture. Anyway, I was looking for a Ph.D. advisor...and one I would actually get along with. To that end, I was looking for a female Ph.D. advisor. I started counting up the number of female vertebrate paleontologists who taught in graduate programs in the U.S. and I remember counting to about eight! That was just about all there were in early 1990s. This was about the time when this friend of mine mentioned Judith as a possible graduate advisor, so I contacted her. At the time I was working in paleo-mitigation in Bakersfield, California, and I remember receiving a phone call from Judith in my temporary apartment. All I remember is that Judith asked me if I would like to work in Big Bend National Park, Texas, for my Ph.D. dissertation research. I thought this sounded exotic and exciting, and said, yes. I also decided I should go visit and meet Judith at LSU. So,
between paleo-mitigation jobs, I drove
across the country in my jeep with my
puppy, Tug. We met up with the guy and
then we drove down to Baton Rouge and
visited Judith. I clearly remember that
Judith had arranged a lunch so that I could
meet her other graduate students and
some of her colleagues. I remember being
so impressed when I walked into the
restaurant. There in front of me was a long
table, full of people for me to meet and talk
to. There may have been ~15 people
around that table. It immediately
demonstrated to me how much Judith
cared about making me feel welcome and
helping me to meet and talk to as many
people as possible in order to learn more
about LSU and the graduate program
there. I remember thinking during my visit
to LSU, ‘This professor is an advisor for the
rest of your life...not just in graduate
school.’ And that turned out to be very true.
I didn’t get in that first year, but I did the
following year, and I moved across country
and started my Ph.D. program with Judith
in August, 1994. It was a fantastic
decision. She was the best graduate
advisor I could have possibly chosen.
Dr. Julia Sankey
Professor, Paleobiology/Geology
Sustainability Faculty Fellow, Council for Sustainable Futures California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA
Judith and Julia at a vertebrate fossil locality in Big Bend National Park.
Photo from Julia Sankey.
A memory from Mary McGehee
I first met Dr. Judith Schiebout when she, Donna Kimball Lerma, and I were initiated into Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) on April 1, 1989. Judith already had a deep connection to DKG -- her mother had been an
active member for years. Judith was an
amazing researcher, educator and friend who, with her mother, supported whole-heartedly the role and mission of DKG to encourage learning and specifically to support women educators. She urged young teachers to join Alpha Xi-- and she often paid their dues to get them started. She sponsored many wonderful presenters at our meetings and celebrated enthusiastically others' achievements. For as long as she was able, she attended District Meetings and State Conferences. She was a fun, interesting travel companion to those meetings, and had amazing good luck at winning First Timers' Baskets at the State Conferences!
Judith was generous. For example, for several
years as Alpha Xi prepared health kits for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade boys at University Terrace Elementary School, she purchased toothbrushes for all the kits from her dentist. She funded several grants that Alpha Xi presented to teachers.
Her vision and perseverance were a remarkable force. We will miss her.
Mary McGehee
Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma
Judith and her Alpha Xi friends and colleagues.
Photo from Judith Burch.
A memory from Dr. Marybeth Lima
When I started as an assistant professor at LSU in 1996, Judith was one of the first women STEM
faculty members I met--she reached out and welcomed me when I knew very few people at LSU, which
I always greatly appreciated. Judith was passionate about science and about mentoring students who
are historically underrepresented in STEM. She espoused "whole person" mentoring, ensuring that her
students were nurtured not just inside the research laboratory, but in developing fully as people as well.
Somewhat randomly, she also introduced me to edamame (which I now consume copiously).
Rest in peace and power, Judith.
Dr. Marybeth Lima
Suyin and Judith, Ray’s Bone Bed site, Big Bend National Park. 1984.
A memory from Ting Nie Yinge
I am deeply sorry to hear about the passing of Professor Schiebout.
I remember her as a guidance who helped me out when I was going through a tough time. She offered her generous help to make me feel embraced by a friend, a truly good friend. She introduced me to the church, where I can have a peaceful time instead of enduring the loss of my grandma alone at home. She listened to my thoughts and shared her opinions instead of judging. We talked in the yard and the cat lied in the sunshine. There was one time when I accidently damaged the oven and it couldn’t be shut down. The oven continued to heat up and I was scared that it would set the house on fire. She was the one who told me how to deal with it. She eased my emotion by making a joke that she doesn’t like to watch the local news reporting that I set a house on fire. I promised her to be careful.
She also promised me to be careful in April, 2020. We were hoping that the situation of the pandemic would change gradually and one day we are all safe and sound. The bad news runs faster than our hope. We lost her in this very special period. The deepest regret is that I didn’t hug her when I left.
Because of her, I once enjoyed the life supported by friends while alone in abroad. “What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us.”
Though I have to say goodbye to her, I will remember her.
Ting Nie Yinge
Dr. Schiebout packing the Tulane donation. 2011.
Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Connor White
Dr. Judith Schiebout was the professor overseeing my undergraduate research and was a wonderful mentor to me. When I found out she was in the hospital after coming back from the LSU Geology Field Camp over the summer, I was shocked and worried. I was so saddened to hear when she passed away. Dr. Schiebout and I first met in a chance meeting. I was looking for a professor to do undergraduate research under and I was asking around the department for anything related to paleontology. I had always wanted to be a paleontologist since I was very little, and I decided to see if I could pursue my dream now that I was in college. There was no paleontologist on staff at the department, but everyone kept mentioning a Dr. Judith Schiebout who would be a good professor to do research with. During a presentation of Dr. Sophie Warny on curation of microfossils, a friend of mine introduced me to Dr. Schiebout who just happened to come to the lecture. I told her that I was interested in pursuing paleontology as a career and would she be interested in letting me research under her. Dr. Schiebout happily agreed, and she became a great mentor to me.
She taught me a lot about real paleontology work, from the mundane to the extraordinary. She let me take the lead on all the aspects of the research, despite my inexperience. I was often worried that I was not making enough progress on my research, especially in the first semester. She was never upset with me and encouraged me to take more time to focus on my classes and my commitment to being in Tiger Band. I will always appreciate how much she continued to encourage me despite the limited progress I had made. I would meet with her every week to discuss how the research was going and what my plans were for a career. I always loved these meetings, as she helped me understand more about what I wanted to do with my life and the best way for me to pursue them. She helped me understand that I could pursue my dream of being a paleontologist, when so many people before had caused me to doubt it.
I will also miss her tangents that she would go on during our conversations. From talking about pets to current events, I’ll always laugh at how she could go on a tangent for ten minutes before she realized that we still had business to discuss. Another major lesson she always told me was, “to make sure you have
a life.” Don’t always be so concerned about grades and classes that you miss out on all the little adventures along the way. Enjoy your college years and live your life to the fullest. Those are words that will always stick with me. Thank you so much for everything you have helped me with Dr. Schiebout, and I will miss you dearly.
Connor White
LSU Undergraduate Student
Butch Dooley, Suyin Ding, and Judith. 2016.
A memory from Dr. Philip Gingerich
Dr. Schiebout doing field work in Big Bend National Park. 1970s. Contributed by Lorene.
My colleague, Suyin Ting, sent a message yesterday to say that Dr. Judy Schiebout died recently of Covid-19. This is very sad. Judy was a professional sister to me. We were contemporaries in the sense that we both received our PhD degrees in 1974 and we both started our professional careers working on Paleocene and early Eocene fossil mammals. I always enjoyed seeing Judy and talking to her at meetings. I once had a most enjoyable visit to give a talk at the invitation of Judy and other colleagues at LSU, and Judy hosted a memorable dinner party after my talk.
Judy lives on as a paleontologist in her fossil collections and her publications. Her memory will always be a blessing to those of us who knew her.
Dr. Philip Gingerich
Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, and Anthropology Curator Emeritus, Vertebrate Paleontology, Museum of Paleontology University of Michigan
A memory from Steve Rapp
As one of Dr. Judy Schiebout’s former graduate students, I was saddened to hear of her passing. I have been asked to offer my remembrances of Dr. Schiebout. My fondest memories of her were as a teacher and great mentor during field trips to her beloved Big Ben National Park. She introduced me to the park during a trip in 1980. I too was enchanted with the place and returned to do field work on four additional occasions.
Dr. Schiebout became my graduate advisor because I wanted to do work outdoors, in the field and out west. She continued to guide me with an introduction to Dr. Bruce MacFadden from University of Florida whose connection expanded my training in his paleomagnetic lab in Florida.
More important, Dr. Schiebout demonstrated to me the importance of expanding the goals of a project and collaboration with fellow researchers.
A story that comes to mind is that, despite my plans of not incorporating vertebrate paleontology, I discovered a fully intact skull embedded in the sandstone.
Upon hearing the news, Dr. Schiebout was extremely excited and was imagining that it could be an undiscovered Pantodont. She said that it might even be a new species and, if so, we could name it. After this discovery, I was excited!
Then came the next discovery. It was a sandstone section next to the skull. We turned it over and discovered the carapace of a large turtle. Thus, my newly discover Pantodont turned out to be a huge turtle. Regardless, we carved out the section from the outcrop and then carried it out to the truck. It was later cleaned up and displayed as a nice example of Paleocene turtle.
Dr. Schiebout was only slightly disappointed.
I recall our final trip to Big Bend and the many enjoyable evenings shared with our group that included Dr. Schiebout and her father. They were always a delight to be around and work with.
After leaving LSU, I continued to work as a sedimentologist and petrologist within the oil industry up to 1996. My graduate work with Dr. Schiebout laid the foundation for
my later career as a geologist.
I did keep in touch with Dr. Schiebout on occasions when my wife, Jan, and I would visit family in Baton Rouge. She was always pleased to hear from us and, on occasion, joined us for lunch. My regret now is that I did not reach out to her more often, particularly during the last several years.
In closing, I can state that Dr. Schiebout provided me one of my first glimpses into living a life of passion. She was devoted to geology in general, vertebrate paleontology and field work in particular, and always, always her students, who she treated as family.
I will miss my visits with Dr. Schiebout and adventures of discovery.
Steve Rapp
President - RGS Scientific
Flowers sent to Judith during her illness.
A memory from Dr. Louis Jacobs
I am writing to express my sincere condolences over the passing of Dr. Judith Schiebout. I
have known Judy since graduate student days, having met her at Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology meetings in the 1970's. I even knew her parents who also came to the meetings.
When Judy came to Dallas from LSU she would visit my labs at SMU. Often she brought her
mother, who was delightful. While Judy and I pondered fossils, her mother would sit and make
the most beautiful and intricate paper cutouts. Whenever I visited family in Baton Rouge, I
would be sure to make time for Judy's lab. She had good students and she cared for them.
Among other things, she did wonders with the vertebrate fossil assets of Louisiana and she
was always concerned with their care, curation, and conservation. I understand that that she
was working on a book about Louisiana vertebrate fossils for the people of Louisiana and that
her colleagues will see her vision to completion. That is a wonderful tribute. She once said in
a meeting many years ago that she wanted to be remembered as a vertebrate paleontologist.
She will certainly be remembered as that, but also as a kind and bright friend.
Louis L. Jacobs
Professor Emeritus
Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences
President, ISEM
Southern Methodist University
1970s. Robert Rainey & Dr. Schiebout bagging conglomerate at Joe’s Bone Bed locality, Big Bend National Park.
A memory from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
We were profoundly saddened to hear the sad news of the passing of Judith A. Schiebout.
We had the privilege of knowing Dr. Schiebout for many years and always regarded her as a friend of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She made great contributions to paleomammalogy. She has invited colleagues from the IVPP to visit Louisiana State University and her positively helped American and Chinese paleontologists establish cooperation and communication. We will miss her so much.
Please accept our sincerest condolences,
Sincerely,
Department of Paleomammalogy
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
2007. Tammie, Dr. Schiebout, and Suyin at the LSU Museum Natural Science’s Christmas Party.
Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Dr. Barb Dutrow
When I arrived at LSU in the early 1990s, Dr. Schiebout welcomed me with her usual, straightforward, cheery manner. She invited me to participate on many committees of her many outstanding graduate students (because I had received an M.S. degree in Vertebrate Paleontology) and was lucky to watch her mentor, teach, and share her unparalleled enthusiasm for paleontology and teaching the next generation of scientists. She embraced students with far-ranging interests, from mega- and micro- fauna to functional morphology. Nothing was too far afield for Judith – always pushing the boundaries.
Her fervent push for educating the public is still present on the LSU campus. The small building outside of the old Howe-Russell (HR) building was originally constructed for the “Dinomation” exhibit in the 1980s! Moving, animated dinosaurs, what more could you want! She was the driving force to get this amazing exhibit to come to campus, much to the delight of youngsters and the community. At that time, there was even a Museum Gift Store near HR 130. But mostly, I recall her as an ardent supporter of a future State Museum of Natural History (Science). Never have I seen someone push so hard, with such vision, and not give up even in the face of enormous headwinds. She conscripted any and all of us to help with her vision. She worked tirelessly, beginning over 30 years ago and with a mostly volunteer group of like-minded enthusiasts in an attempt to make this new museum come to fruition. She wanted it to encompass all of geology, have it located in an accessible place (off campus), and serve as an entree to educate kids and the public about the many facets of geology. She had the museum model worked out. Working together with another alumnus, Ed Picou, they had meetings with nearly everyone in the administration. With her personal funds, she generously brought in experts to 'show us how' to build a museum. Despite resistance, she was an unrelenting advocate - still speaking as recent as last year of a 'new museum'. That was Judith,
never giving up - with a wit that could tackle anyone. And she was brave, when she lost her leg, she got a new car and would wheel down to my office and come inside! For those of you who have seen my office, it is messy and full. That did not deter her, she was not going to talk in the hall. After a bit of rearranging, she motored on in and then had to back out! She expertly guided herself in and out and more than once with her new wheels! Truly amazing. That was Judith.
Always breaking new paths, she received her PhD when few women were in geology; she knew the difficulties women in science faced. She never stopped breaking barriers which sometimes resulted in head butting with others, but she was tough. We would run into each other in the hall, and she always had something to discuss or an idea to pursue. I will miss her, a woman of the generation that helped to pave the way for me.
We’ve lost a barrier breaking, witty, straight-talking brave woman, with her incredible knowledge of the Gulf Coast mega- and micro-fauna. She left an indelible mark on many.
Barb Dutrow
Professor of Geology, LSU
Dr. Schiebout’s office in the LSU Howe- Russell Geosciences Building. Flowers sent to Judith by Suyin to brighten her day at the rehabilitation facility form a simple memorial at her office door the day she passed away.
A memory from Bertha Hinojosa
I am so proud of my friend, Judith, and the way she helped people. She wanted children to learn about science and to ask questions about prehistoric animals. I took my son and daughter to her office many years ago. She gave me packets of fossils to share with my Boy Scouts and my elementary students so they could have real items to study. The focus in science classes is to study a subject like a scientist. Many students ask questions about their world because they want to know why things are like they are. She helped students of all ages, especially her
graduate students. She focused on helping others.
She worked hard to build a natural history museum in Baton Rouge on the LSU campus to house its many, valuable collections. She formed a group to lobby for this museum. She would have us talk to the public about the museum at the book festival held at the State Capitol. She died before her dream could come true.
Judith helped build our Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society for women educators. Her mother was a member of our chapter. Judith joined our chapter a few years after her mother transferred in. She brought many members into the group and she served as our president for two years. She established a scholarship fund in honor of her mother, Helen Schiebout. The fund has helped teachers study for advanced degrees, helped honor volunteers, and supported beginning teachers. She was generous, supportive, and determined to keep the chapter going. Thank you, Judith.
Judith, my husband, and I would go eat Mexican food at Ninfa’s. She loved beans, chips, and salsa. We would also go to the Drunken Fish at times. The corona virus kept us from gathering and then she went to the hospital. I wish we could have protected her from that virus.
She supported me when I was helping my husband recover from a stroke that occurred in May of 2019. She gave me lessons on how to encourage him to improve. She loaned us a walker. Even in death, she shares her equipment and belongings with others. Judith had a huge heart that reached out to help others.
She loved her cat, Cassia, even though her cat was not always kind to her. She had patience and protected her feline friend.
She was loyal and generous. We will miss her brilliant mind, her kindness, and her wit. Her life was cut short.
Bertha Hinojosa
Flowers from friends brightened Judith’s days during her illness.
Cassia, Judith’s beloved cat, will be moving to a cat sanctuary in California in the near future. She was lovingly taken care of by Monica and Jessica during Judith’s illness, and they will care for her until her relocation.
Pictures from friends, family, and colleagues
A memory from Dr. Walter Joyce
I was an exchange student at LSU in '98/'99, but Judy kindly provided me with a desk space in
the museum and warmly included me in all lab activities, including Pizza Fridays. Judy had a
pleasant personality that seemed to be an anachronistic leftover of a more innocent past. She
always spoke calmly and only had good things to say about other people. She referred to her
mother, whom she lovingly took care of, as "Ma," and persistently called the woman with whom
I was cohabitating, a doctoral student from the department, "your little girlfriend." Judy loved
the heat and her office was a lone fortress in the department against centralized air
conditioning. Judy, many thanks for your support and kindness.
May you rest in peace.
University of Fribourg
Switzerland
Walter Joyce, PhD
Department of Geosciences
2011. Packing Tulane donation. Submitted by Lorene.
A memory from Barry Meyer
Dr. Judy, as I knew her, was an incredible and incomparable gift to all those who had the good fortune to know her. Her kind and gentle nature may, at first, appeared to some to be masked by a seemingly hard shell...a matrix of sorts. Once the shell was cracked and the matrix removed Dr. Judy’s true spirit came to light. I learned to see beneath the shell and into the matrix first as a "citizen scientist" and later as a board member of the Friends of the Louisiana Museum of Natural History Foundation.
Dr. Judy was as tenacious as she was passionate regarding a variety of social issues and causes. She was as equally passionate and tenacious about sharing her fascination and love for the fossilized past. Dr. Judy was pleased when others...especially children (kiddos as she called them) and students found delight in the wonders of the past. She shared in their joy of discoveries, wither they be from a class, a tour of the collection or an excursion into the field.
Preserving the past in a safe and secure environment that would provide opportunities for discovery by scholars, students and “kiddos” for generations to come was perhaps one of Dr. Judy’s greatest causes. Her devotion to the effort was but another example of her passion and her tenacity as well as of her sharing and giving nature. Dr. Judy’s efforts to preserve the past as a gift to the future may perhaps be one of the most significant aspects of her legacy, her bequest, to us all.
Barry Meyer
A field trip to Ice Age sediments with students. Photo provided by Bill Lee.
Memories from Cindy Schneider
I remember her vests. Judy was never without her vests - knitted, patterned, colorful - and they were always matched with a turtleneck.
I remember Judy sitting at our family table every Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.
I remember Judy and her Landcruiser, a rugged vehicle for adventures into the wilds.
Judy emailed a few years back when there were public hearings about a chemical plant in West Baton Rouge Parish. She was concerned about the environment and the safety of the community. She knew I teach community nursing and my students would want to know about a real issue that could affect health.
In her younger days Judy loved to garage sale with my mother-in-law every Saturday. It was social event and she enjoyed watching Fern chat with every neighbor.
Cindy Schneider, MSN, RN, CWOCN Assistant Professor
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University
Photo from Judith Burch.
Photos from Dr. Ray Wilhite
A dig site at Fort Polk, Louisiana, 2001.
Baton Rouge Earth Day, 2006.
Pictures from friends, family and colleagues
Memories posted to the Rabenhorst Funeral Home
From Woodson Godfrey
October 29, 2020
As always, this comes as unexpected. Judith Schiebout was a remarkable helper in supplying me with a thesis focus and aided me endlessly as I went along in my career. Although micropaleontology was far enough from her focus, she went along famously with encouraging me in my studies. There have been few like her and never enough with her kindness and attributes. She is missed.
From Arlyce Schiebout
October 13, 2020
I have fond memories of cousin Judy’s visits to northwest Iowa when we were children. Sending my sympathy to her friends and colleagues.
From Barbara OConnor
October 8, 2020
Judy and I both graduated in 1964 from Robert E. Lee High School in San Antonio, Texas. I’d lost track of her until I mentioned to a classmate that my daughter was in grad school studying Paleontology. He told me that our old classmate, Judy Schiebout had acquired her Doctorate in Paleontology and was teaching at LSU. My daughter called and spoke with Judy who encouraged her to continue her studies. They reconnected again when my daughter received her Doctorate and accepted a teaching position at The University of Southern Mississippi. I will remember Judy as a most unique, focused and committed individual, a scientist through and through.
From Kathy Rossman
October 1, 2020
Judy did many good and generous deeds quietly. She was a good and loyal best friend and guardian angel to my mother, Nita. When I lived out of state, Judy kept mom company with calls, and lunches and invited her to cat shows and gem & mineral shows. When I was home for a visit and when I moved back to Baton Rouge, Judy took us out to lunch. When my mother had a severe stroke, Judy visited mom in the hospital and nursing home and checked up on me while I was dealing with mom's house, bills, etc. Judy read one of my mom's favorite passages at her funeral, and then she kept a watchful eye on me. I remember our talks on the phone and over lunch. Judy was so smart and accomplished, but also a good and dear lady through and through! I'll miss her, but she is in God's house now, a much better place where all her physical struggles are over.
Dr. Schiebout loved flowers. This is a photo an amaryllis that she gave to Lorene. Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Dr. Pamela Borne Blanchard
Dr. Judith Schiebout was one of the few people I knew when I arrived on the LSU campus in August 1992 to begin my doctoral studies. Professors from Lamar University, Drs. Jim Westgate, Jim Stevens, and Margaret Stevens were familiar with her research work in Big Bend, so they encouraged me to seek her out and introduce myself. Eventually I found my way to her office. There, Judith sat in her office, tightly surrounded by an office filled with books and journal articles. To my surprise, despite the heat and humidity of a Louisiana summer, Dr. Schiebout had a small electric heater running full blast and her left leg was covered with a blanket! Goodness! I remember it being so hot in her office! As Thanksgiving neared, she invited me to her home to share Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve always been so touched by, and so grateful for, that invitation. Over
the 28 years I’ve been at LSU, she remains the only professor to have extended such an invitation to me.
I enjoyed being around Dr. Schiebout and her flock of vertebrate paleontologist students. I enjoyed searching for fossils and was more than happy to go to Fort Polk to look for and recover fossils there. On one occasion, someone found a very delicate fossil that needed to be carefully removed from the sediment it which it was preserved. To my astonishment she sat down on the ground and scooted around until she was on her belly with her tools working to recover that fossil. She wasn’t the least bit mindful of the summer heat and the Sun beating down on her. My memory is almost identical to the picture at the upper right. It’s one of my favorite memories of her.
Dr. Schiebout came to my graduation party in 1998. She came to my wedding in 1998. She organized a baby shower for me in 2001. She remained a steady presence through all my years in Baton Rouge, sometimes inviting me for lunch at the Drunken Fish or local pizza place, sometimes just touching base with a phone call. I developed the habit of driving past her house on Morning Glory on my way to a school or on errands just to see if her Paleo van was parked in the drive.
The characteristics that I most admired Dr. Schiebout for were her determination, gentleness and kindness, her keen mind and her sharp wit. She had a way of turning a phrase that I can only describe as a “Judy-ism.” She was always interested in what was going on in my life - she always asked after my husband, Tommy, and my son, Paul, and even my flock of chickens.
This world desperately needs more kindness like Judith offered so willingly. I miss her.
Pam Blanchard, PhD
School of Education Louisiana State University
1990s. Dr. Schiebout recovering a delicate fossil at Fort Polk. Photo from Judith Burch.
After Suyin’s doctoral defense. Left to right: Suyin, Margaret Stevens, Pam Blanchard, Judith. 1995.
Gardens
I know a garden, tho’ the hands
That tended it are gone,
The sweet, old-fashioned flowers that
Once flourished there, live on;
Still daffodils and crocus star
The cedar’s deepest shade,
And hyacinths remember where
The winding paths were laid.
Ah, loved ones gone! My heart is like
A garden long bereft,
Where only sturdy, long-lived things,
(The sweetest too) are left,
For thoughts of you, like daffodils
Still light my deepest gloom,
And down paths of memory
Are hyacinths in bloom.
~ Lillian Hall Trichel
I read every last word of the tributes, and it sounds like she was a very remarkable lady who touched countless lives. It also sounds like even though she never had children of her own, she fostered many, many people as though they were her own through her love for education and paleontology. And although she lost a leg at some time, it certainly didn't appear to slow her down. God bless you, Judy, and may you rest in peace. (I would love to see all the pictures that were referenced...guess I'll Google the funeral home and see if they are there.)
Bryant Pringle
Sadly, Samuel is correct. Sometimes, kids can be so cruel😐
I am glad she did well for herself. RIP
Paula Goodrich (Jungmann)
I remember Judy being quite, intellegent and kind when she spoke to me. I could only dream to be as smart as she. May she rest in peace with the knowledge that she lived a life well done. Reading all these acknowledgements and also, about all of her accomplishments makes me wish I'd know her better. These testaments to the kind of person she was should make us all proud of our classmate, of which I am.
Jan Maierhofer (Herrington)
This is my third try to post a comment and I hope this one goes through.
I did not know Judy much at all and that was probably because she was so much smarter than I and we didn't share classes together. I am so glad that she was such a success in her profession and envy her for that because I could not have gone so far as she did.
I am very sorry that other students were cruel to her just because she might have been different and that difference was probably because her intellengence was way above many of us. Shame on those that treated her unkindly.
She is now where NO ONE WILL TREAT HER UNKINDLY and she will be accepted by all. Bless her heart and God will keep her safe now and forever.
I am sorry for another loss of one of my class mates. jh
Dennie Box (Scoggins)
I didn't know Judy very well but she always had a smile on her face and a very calm demeanor. It was so evident as well that she was extremely intelligent. I do remember when some of our classmates who had a cruel nature taped a sign on her back (unknowingly to her) that said "I'm fine" at a time when "fine" meant that one was a very desirable individual and this sign was used to try and humiliate her and make her the butt of jokes. Some clowns also managed to pad the ballot box with votes for Homecoming Queen which made her the winner. This was such a surprise to her and I remember her beaming with happiness. Sadly her happiness had to be turned to embarrassment when the truth had to come out about how she had won. I was unable to imagine how any of our classmates could have been so cruel to a person who had never done them any harm. I'm so glad to hear how successful she was in her life. She was far more successful than so many of us could have ever imagined being.
"R.I.P., Judy, you're in a far better place now. The taunts, cruelty and misery are far behind you and have been for over 50 years. You were able to rise above them, be successful and take a well deserved place in life. I don't imagine your tormenters have been able to say the same".
Mike Kilman
Jan, Judith was always so kind to everyone and she always gave me a sweet smiles and told me NO that did not want to go riding with me on my motorcycle! But did give me a sweet smile for asking her!!!!
John Mensing
Hope you will allow me a story about Judith and two other classmates we have lost. After graduation I took one year at SAC, before going off to UT along with my friends Ken Kennon and Paul Kurth. Ken and Paul urged me to take a chemistry class with them (I never took chem at Lee) - "we will help you," they said, "it will be fun," they said. Judith Schiebout was also in the class, and we four were the only Lee-exes. I did not know Judith well, but I knew she a truly brilliant student in our 64-class. On day 1, the instructor said a condition of taking this class is one year of high school chemistry - those who did not know that may want to drop the course now. I hung in there, and Ken and Paul did help as promised.
On the day after the mid-term exam, the instructor asked 5 students to stay after class - the 4 of us from Lee and a girl from John Marshall. He told us we had made the only A grades on a very difficult test, and asked us each to tell him who our chem teacher was and what high school we were from. When the 4 of us said Lee, with 2 different chem teachers and I confessed I did not take chemistry - he asked "What the heck kind of high school did you people go to?"
(He also asked how Paul and Ken managed to cram a year of chemistry into my head one day a week for about 8 weeks? Lots of empty space, I guess.)
ADDENDUM -- All 5 of us subsequently went off to UT, and I learned the girl from Marshall was also named Judy. Ms Schiebout earned Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees at UT, in Geology, I think. She went on to a stellar career as a Professor and researcher at LSU. Paul got his engineering degree and became very successful in engineering and later in business. Ken transferred to another college and also did well in business. I becamed good friends with Judy from Marshall, who earned Masters in Chemistry and Geology. In unrelated news, she and I married in 1971. As busy people traveling different paths, we divorced some years later. She employed those degrees at NASA as a scientist in the Lunar Lab, an astronaut for a short time, and ulitmately as a lead scientist and Curator of the moon rocks.
Bryant Pringle
Great story, John! I wish more people would share stories on this site❗️
Sharon Hensley (Piechnik)
I agree with Bryant...I wish more people would post stories. I didn't know Judith at all but do remember her. She seemed very quiet, and her accomplishments in life obviously enforce everyone's comments that she was very intelligent. It saddens me to hear that she was made fun of in high school. We were all in the same boat, just muddling our way through puberty and trying to find our identity as young adults. RIP, Judith. I hope success in life was sweet revenge.
Barbara Fletcher (O'Connor)
Remembering Judith
Dr. Judith Ann Schiebout October 16, 1946 - September 24, 2020
Associate Professor, LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics Associate Curator, LSU Natural Science Museum
Bachelor's Degree: University of Texas, 1968 Master's Degree: University of Texas, 1970 PhD: University of Texas, 1973
A short biography of Dr. Judith Schiebout
Judith Ann Schiebout was born on October 16, 1946 in Tampa, Florida, to Joseph and Helen Mae (Castenholz) Schiebout. She was an only child. Her father was a career Air Force officer and the family moved often. Judith and her mother, Helen, followed Joe to Oberammergau, Germany shortly after she was born. Family lore has it that the family had to move whenever Judith had read all the books in the local library.
Judith’s father was one of eleven children, most of whom settled originally in southern Iowa. She is survived by many cousins living in Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Texas and California, as well as her Aunt Dinah TerHorst, Sioux Center, Iowa, the youngest sister of her father’s family. In their later years, her parents lived with Judith in Baton Rouge until their deaths (Joe in 1993 and Helen in 1999).
Judith earned a BA (1968), an MA (1970) and a PhD (1973), all from the University of Texas at Austin. Judith’s vertebrate paleontology doctoral studies were centered in Big Bend National Park. Her last major research interest involved mammals from the Miocene period of Louisiana. Several of her former student, lead by Dr. Suyin Ting and Lorene Smith, are putting a book together about Judith’s vertebrate paleontology research in Louisiana.
In the last 25 years an aspect of Chinese vertebrate paleontology entered her interests when Dr. Suyin Ting came to the United States to study, first under her direction, and then alongside Dr. Schiebout.
Judith was a trailblazer in many ways. She earned a doctorate in geology
when there were few women in geology. She was among a group of United
States scientists invited to China in the early 1980s, which is where she first
met Suyin Ting Ding. Suyin came to LSU to work with Judith in 1980 with the
encouragement of Dr. Minchen Chow of the Institute of Vertebrate
Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Suyin’s extensive research has been
on the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in Asia with an international team of
researchers she developed. Suyin earned her doctorate under the guidance of Judith in 1995. Dr. Paul White (one of Judith’s doctoral students) spent two years in China (2005-07) in a post-doctoral position in the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working with Professor Liu Tongsheng. This brings full circle the relationship of the vertebrate paleontology program at LSU with China, which began when Suyin came to LSU as a visiting scholar in 1980.
According to Judith’s vitae, nine of her students are now teaching or involved in museum work, others are employed as geologists in the oil and gas industry. Her students include: Kay Schrodt (MS, 1980), Jill Hartnell (MS, 1980), Linda Rice (MS, 1981), Thomas Klump (MS, 1982), Kathy Rigsby (MS, 1982), Winston Lancaster (MS, 1982), Herbert Martin (MS, 1986), Barbara Standhardt (Ph.D., 1986), Barry Albright (MS, 1991), Suyin Ting (Ph.D., 1995), Julia Sankey (Ph.D., 1998), David Hinds (MS, co- advised with Dr. Arnold Bouma, 1998), Alton Dooley (Ph.D., 1999), Ray Wilhite (Ph.D., 2003), Paul White (Ph.D., 2005), Michael Williams (Ph.D., 2009), Travis Atwood (MS, 2009), Julie Lynn Hill (MS, 2010), Mark Hagge (MS, 2010), and Lindsay Yann (MS, 2010). She was currently advising an undergraduate researcher, Connor White, at the time of her death.
Dr. Judith Schiebout entered the hospital with breathing problems not related to COVID on July 29, 2020. She was discharged to a rehabilitation center where she contracted COVID-19 in August of 2020. She recovered from the initial infection, but later died as a result of complications from the infection on September 24, 2020, in Denham Springs, LA.
Information provided by Marla Schiebout, Lois Kuyper-Rushing, LSU Public & Collection Services, History of Grand Rapids.org, and Dr. Schiebout’s curriculum vitae.
Judith with Joe and Helen. 1947.
Judith and Helen. 1948.
A memory from Dr. Suyin Ting Ding
Forty years ago, in June of 1980, I met you for the first time in the Baton Rouge airport. “How do you do?” I said to you with the English I have learned just a short time ago. I was surprised when your father drove us to your home: How do people have their own car? I remember I stood there staring at the shelves and doing nothing when you took me to the grocery store later. “Why don’t you choose something?” you said to me. “Choose?” To be honest, I had never seen so many dazzled foods before, and, to a person who has been living off food stamps, there have been few choices. I have never thought “choose” would be such a difficult issue for me. Then, I began two years of studies in LSU as a visiting scholar. You said to me “You can choose any courses you would like to audit. Just talk to the professors to get their permission”. That easy? I tried... and audited ten biology and anatomy courses. With this background, my colleague and I published a paper entitled “The structure of ear region of Rhombmylus (Anagalida, Mammalia)” in 1984, which was the first paper on the internal structure of cranial region of fossil mammals - a research field that had never been touched before in China. You supported my travel around the country to visit the institutions and universities. I was totally shocked by what I saw, which was extremely different from, and opposite to, what I had been told.
In October of 1983, I met you and Dr. Mary Dawson and Dr. Wilson’s family in the Beijing airport. You had very good visits to the most important fossil sites from the north in Inner Mongolia to the south in Gongdong Province. I remember when my colleague and I set up the meal in the hotel for you, and we had to leave, you were surprised and asked “Why?” I had no words, and you would never understand - we were not allowed to eat with you. I remember you were shocked when I invited you for lunch in my small two-room apartment that housed six people (including my paralyzed mom). You could not easily move and only sat there because it was full of beds, tables, and chairs. You asked me, “ You live like this to do your research work?”. You were so quiet after I said “Yes.”
Thirty year ago, in June of 1988, we reunited in the Baton Rouge airport. With your encouragement, I started my Ph.D. program under your mentorship when I was 50. I would never forget when the graduate school informed me after I started courses that I could not receive an assistantship because my T0EFL score (Test of English as a Foreign Language) was lower (by 3 points) than the assistantship required. You tried hard to have my status changed as a visiting scholar in order to get financial support, and I tried hard, retaking TOEFL about 10 times, and finally passed. With this assistantship, not only did I receive my Ph.D. at age 56, but I also raised my two sons who graduated with bachelor’s degrees from LSU. Equipped with a Ph.D. training, I led a US-China cooperative project on Asian Paleocene/Eocene boundary, resulting in a paper titled “Mammalian dispersal at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary” published in Science, 2002. The project was extended to cover Asian early Paleogene strata resulting in the paper “Asian early Paleogene chronology and mammalian
faunal turnover events” published in 2011. I have never forgotten, how in 1993 your father took us to the Fort Polk to see a new find, a three toe horse lower jaw, and the heavy rain was falling when we were in the field, and we were as wet as drowned rats. I knew it would hurt your bad leg; however, you forgot pain and discussed developing a big project with the officers. I remember you stayed in the parking area very late into the night, waiting for us to take the huge mastodon tusk from the Kerry site back to the lab. Now these two localities have produced hundreds of fossils and have become very important Miocene faunal sites in the south. They are correlated to the related faunas nationally and globally.
Nearly 20 years ago, you drove me to my naturalization
ceremony. I remember you and everybody in the ceremony congratulated us with big smile and cheers. Once my 20 years old son said to me, “Mom, I find you are a person who likes laughing a lot, but I have never seen you smile like that before.” Sorry son, I did not recognize I left you such bad impressions in your childhood. Yes, I found that I smiled for the first time at an LSU football game. As I passed by the crowds, their happiness, laughter, enjoyment touched me, and I smiled with them.
Thank you, Judith, for all the help you had given me. Thank you, Judith, for bringing laughter and smiles back to my life. Mr. and Mrs. Schiebout, I would like to thank you for treating me as a daughter, and I want to tell you that I have kept my promise. “Yes”, I told you when you said to me “Please stay with Judy.”
Many thanks, Judith, from bottom of my heart.
Dr. Suyin Ting
LSU Museum of Natural Science, Vertebrate Fossils Collections Manager & Research Associate
Suyin Ding’s graduation party at Dr. Schiebout’s home. Left to right: Lei(Suyin’s son), Suyin, McKenna, Judith, and Yan (Suyin’s son). 1995.
Curatorial Methods Course. 2015. Contributed by Lorene.
A field trip to Fort Polk. Contributed by Bill Lee.
Dr. Suyin Ding’s defense. 1995.
Left to right: Drs. SenGupta, McKenna, Schiebout, Hafner Lorenzo, Hazel & Tague.
A memory from Yan Haung
My heart is so heavy and saddened with the sudden passing of Dr. Judith A. Schiebout.
I have known Dr. Schiebout since I was a boy back in Beijing, China in 1983. Not knowing much English back then, all I remembered from that visit was how nice she was and her infectious laugh.
When I came to the U.S., she and her
wonderful family helped making the
tremendous transition in life so much easier
for me. I’ll never forget her weekly English
lessons, eating out with her family and all
the students, her pep talks before my
exams, and all her guidance and support
when I was in Baton Rouge.
Throughout my later career and life, we
talked even when I moved thousands of
miles away, and she had always
encouraged me to be the best person and
to do the right thing. When I went through the happiness and hardship in life, she was always there for me to share my thoughts , heartaches and joy.
A few weeks ago, I was not able to speak with Dr. Schiebout in the phone for long, since she was in the middle of a procedure in the hospital. We said we were going to speak again soon. I thought she’d have received treatment and gotten out of the hospital as she always had done... It was such a shock when my mother told us of her passing. I would always regret our incomplete phone call...that I’d never be able to listen to her voice again...
I will miss her smile, kindness to others and her positive personality. I will miss my dear friend, mentor and “my aunt.”
I know she is happy to be with her loving parents, Helen and Joe, in heaven. I hope I will make them proud.
May her soul rest in peace.
Suyin, Dr. Schiebout, and Suyin’s sons, Yan and Lei. LSU Graduation, May 1995. Contributed by Yan.
Yan Huang
A memory from Dr. Grant Boardman
Doctor Schiebout has always been like a mother to me, her loss is crushing.
I lost my mother to complications from multiple sclerosis one month before I started my first year at LSU in 1998. I had a very rough start; rudderless and adrift in the darkened sea that was freshman year. Then I took Dinosaurs and Disasters, and found a mentor who was smart, strong, with a dry humor, compassionate, opinionated, and who understood what I was going through. She gave me a glimmer of hope. Under her tutelage I opened back up, I grew not just as a paleontologist, but as a person.
My time at LSU was full of great
memories: all the times we drove
out to central Louisiana to collect
fossils at Fort Polk (even one
time having to take shelter
because an actual tiger was
loose on base); wandering the
creek beds of the Tunica Hills
looking for Pleistocene fossils
with Bill Lee (getting to publish
on a Paleolama dentary I found
there, Doc was so excited about
my find!); learning how to acid-
screen wash to get fossils from
hard conglomerates (a technique
Doc picked up in her time at UT-
Austin); getting to be on local
PBS to talk about the ancient Mastodon we found at the Tunica Hills/Kerry Site. I had my first two, peer-reviewed publications with Doc’s help; I also had my first taste of Durian ice cream at Doc’s behest (it was fantastic, if something that takes getting used to). In the fullness of time I also got to know many of Doc’s college classmates, colleagues, and friends, like Bruce MacFadden, Bill Lee, Fern Webb, and, of course, Suyin Ting. I got to build relationships with my fellow Paleo students colleagues: Michael Williams, Ray Wilhite, Brandon Kilbourne, Julie Hill, Travis Atwood, Mark Hagge, and Lindsay Yann, to name just a few. I even got a small scholarship to do some research at UC Berkeley, all because of Doc and her maternal guidance.
I gained the strength, confidence, and determination to move through the hard times to get my Master’s and eventually my PhD because of my relationship with Dr. Schiebout. I only hope she fully knew how much she meant to me and how much she shaped me as a person.
I miss you so much, Doc. I hope that wherever you are, you have some Durian ice cream and a good cat to cuddle with.
Dr. Grant S. Boardman
Research Associate, Arizona Museum of Natural History, Mesa, AZ
Adjunct Professor of Geology, Estrella Mountain Community College, Avondale, AZ
Dr. Schiebout excavating a fossil camel from Ft Polk Miocene deposits.
A memory from Dr. Julia Sankey
I met Judith Schiebout as a possible graduate advisor in a very round-about sort of way.... Long story short, this guy I knew had gone to LSU and had been in a class where Judith had given a guest lecture. Anyway, I was looking for a Ph.D. advisor...and one I would actually get along with. To that end, I was looking for a female Ph.D. advisor. I started counting up the number of female vertebrate paleontologists who taught in graduate programs in the U.S. and I remember counting to about eight! That was just about all there were in early 1990s. This was about the time when this friend of mine mentioned Judith as a possible graduate advisor, so I contacted her. At the time I was working in paleo-mitigation in Bakersfield, California, and I remember receiving a phone call from Judith in my temporary apartment. All I remember is that Judith asked me if I would like to work in Big Bend National Park, Texas, for my Ph.D. dissertation research. I thought this sounded exotic and exciting, and said, yes. I also decided I should go visit and meet Judith at LSU. So,
between paleo-mitigation jobs, I drove
across the country in my jeep with my
puppy, Tug. We met up with the guy and
then we drove down to Baton Rouge and
visited Judith. I clearly remember that
Judith had arranged a lunch so that I could
meet her other graduate students and
some of her colleagues. I remember being
so impressed when I walked into the
restaurant. There in front of me was a long
table, full of people for me to meet and talk
to. There may have been ~15 people
around that table. It immediately
demonstrated to me how much Judith
cared about making me feel welcome and
helping me to meet and talk to as many
people as possible in order to learn more
about LSU and the graduate program
there. I remember thinking during my visit
to LSU, ‘This professor is an advisor for the
rest of your life...not just in graduate
school.’ And that turned out to be very true.
I didn’t get in that first year, but I did the
following year, and I moved across country
and started my Ph.D. program with Judith
in August, 1994. It was a fantastic
decision. She was the best graduate
advisor I could have possibly chosen.
Dr. Julia Sankey
Professor, Paleobiology/Geology
Sustainability Faculty Fellow, Council for Sustainable Futures California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA
Judith and Julia at a vertebrate fossil locality in Big Bend National Park.
Photo from Julia Sankey.
A memory from Mary McGehee
I first met Dr. Judith Schiebout when she, Donna Kimball Lerma, and I were initiated into Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) on April 1, 1989. Judith already had a deep connection to DKG -- her mother had been an
active member for years. Judith was an
amazing researcher, educator and friend who, with her mother, supported whole-heartedly the role and mission of DKG to encourage learning and specifically to support women educators. She urged young teachers to join Alpha Xi-- and she often paid their dues to get them started. She sponsored many wonderful presenters at our meetings and celebrated enthusiastically others' achievements. For as long as she was able, she attended District Meetings and State Conferences. She was a fun, interesting travel companion to those meetings, and had amazing good luck at winning First Timers' Baskets at the State Conferences!
Judith was generous. For example, for several
years as Alpha Xi prepared health kits for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade boys at University Terrace Elementary School, she purchased toothbrushes for all the kits from her dentist. She funded several grants that Alpha Xi presented to teachers.
Her vision and perseverance were a remarkable force. We will miss her.
Mary McGehee
Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma
Judith and her Alpha Xi friends and colleagues.
Photo from Judith Burch.
A memory from Dr. Marybeth Lima
When I started as an assistant professor at LSU in 1996, Judith was one of the first women STEM
faculty members I met--she reached out and welcomed me when I knew very few people at LSU, which
I always greatly appreciated. Judith was passionate about science and about mentoring students who
are historically underrepresented in STEM. She espoused "whole person" mentoring, ensuring that her
students were nurtured not just inside the research laboratory, but in developing fully as people as well.
Somewhat randomly, she also introduced me to edamame (which I now consume copiously).
Rest in peace and power, Judith.
Dr. Marybeth Lima
Suyin and Judith, Ray’s Bone Bed site, Big Bend National Park. 1984.
A memory from Ting Nie Yinge
I am deeply sorry to hear about the passing of Professor Schiebout.
I remember her as a guidance who helped me out when I was going through a tough time. She offered her generous help to make me feel embraced by a friend, a truly good friend. She introduced me to the church, where I can have a peaceful time instead of enduring the loss of my grandma alone at home. She listened to my thoughts and shared her opinions instead of judging. We talked in the yard and the cat lied in the sunshine. There was one time when I accidently damaged the oven and it couldn’t be shut down. The oven continued to heat up and I was scared that it would set the house on fire. She was the one who told me how to deal with it. She eased my emotion by making a joke that she doesn’t like to watch the local news reporting that I set a house on fire. I promised her to be careful.
She also promised me to be careful in April, 2020. We were hoping that the situation of the pandemic would change gradually and one day we are all safe and sound. The bad news runs faster than our hope. We lost her in this very special period. The deepest regret is that I didn’t hug her when I left.
Because of her, I once enjoyed the life supported by friends while alone in abroad. “What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us.”
Though I have to say goodbye to her, I will remember her.
Ting Nie Yinge
Dr. Schiebout packing the Tulane donation. 2011.
Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Connor White
Dr. Judith Schiebout was the professor overseeing my undergraduate research and was a wonderful mentor to me. When I found out she was in the hospital after coming back from the LSU Geology Field Camp over the summer, I was shocked and worried. I was so saddened to hear when she passed away. Dr. Schiebout and I first met in a chance meeting. I was looking for a professor to do undergraduate research under and I was asking around the department for anything related to paleontology. I had always wanted to be a paleontologist since I was very little, and I decided to see if I could pursue my dream now that I was in college. There was no paleontologist on staff at the department, but everyone kept mentioning a Dr. Judith Schiebout who would be a good professor to do research with. During a presentation of Dr. Sophie Warny on curation of microfossils, a friend of mine introduced me to Dr. Schiebout who just happened to come to the lecture. I told her that I was interested in pursuing paleontology as a career and would she be interested in letting me research under her. Dr. Schiebout happily agreed, and she became a great mentor to me.
She taught me a lot about real paleontology work, from the mundane to the extraordinary. She let me take the lead on all the aspects of the research, despite my inexperience. I was often worried that I was not making enough progress on my research, especially in the first semester. She was never upset with me and encouraged me to take more time to focus on my classes and my commitment to being in Tiger Band. I will always appreciate how much she continued to encourage me despite the limited progress I had made. I would meet with her every week to discuss how the research was going and what my plans were for a career. I always loved these meetings, as she helped me understand more about what I wanted to do with my life and the best way for me to pursue them. She helped me understand that I could pursue my dream of being a paleontologist, when so many people before had caused me to doubt it.
I will also miss her tangents that she would go on during our conversations. From talking about pets to current events, I’ll always laugh at how she could go on a tangent for ten minutes before she realized that we still had business to discuss. Another major lesson she always told me was, “to make sure you have
a life.” Don’t always be so concerned about grades and classes that you miss out on all the little adventures along the way. Enjoy your college years and live your life to the fullest. Those are words that will always stick with me. Thank you so much for everything you have helped me with Dr. Schiebout, and I will miss you dearly.
Connor White
LSU Undergraduate Student
Butch Dooley, Suyin Ding, and Judith. 2016.
A memory from Dr. Philip Gingerich
Dr. Schiebout doing field work in Big Bend National Park. 1970s. Contributed by Lorene.
My colleague, Suyin Ting, sent a message yesterday to say that Dr. Judy Schiebout died recently of Covid-19. This is very sad. Judy was a professional sister to me. We were contemporaries in the sense that we both received our PhD degrees in 1974 and we both started our professional careers working on Paleocene and early Eocene fossil mammals. I always enjoyed seeing Judy and talking to her at meetings. I once had a most enjoyable visit to give a talk at the invitation of Judy and other colleagues at LSU, and Judy hosted a memorable dinner party after my talk.
Judy lives on as a paleontologist in her fossil collections and her publications. Her memory will always be a blessing to those of us who knew her.
Dr. Philip Gingerich
Professor Emeritus of Earth Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, and Anthropology Curator Emeritus, Vertebrate Paleontology, Museum of Paleontology University of Michigan
A memory from Steve Rapp
As one of Dr. Judy Schiebout’s former graduate students, I was saddened to hear of her passing. I have been asked to offer my remembrances of Dr. Schiebout. My fondest memories of her were as a teacher and great mentor during field trips to her beloved Big Ben National Park. She introduced me to the park during a trip in 1980. I too was enchanted with the place and returned to do field work on four additional occasions.
Dr. Schiebout became my graduate advisor because I wanted to do work outdoors, in the field and out west. She continued to guide me with an introduction to Dr. Bruce MacFadden from University of Florida whose connection expanded my training in his paleomagnetic lab in Florida.
More important, Dr. Schiebout demonstrated to me the importance of expanding the goals of a project and collaboration with fellow researchers.
A story that comes to mind is that, despite my plans of not incorporating vertebrate paleontology, I discovered a fully intact skull embedded in the sandstone.
Upon hearing the news, Dr. Schiebout was extremely excited and was imagining that it could be an undiscovered Pantodont. She said that it might even be a new species and, if so, we could name it. After this discovery, I was excited!
Then came the next discovery. It was a sandstone section next to the skull. We turned it over and discovered the carapace of a large turtle. Thus, my newly discover Pantodont turned out to be a huge turtle. Regardless, we carved out the section from the outcrop and then carried it out to the truck. It was later cleaned up and displayed as a nice example of Paleocene turtle.
Dr. Schiebout was only slightly disappointed.
I recall our final trip to Big Bend and the many enjoyable evenings shared with our group that included Dr. Schiebout and her father. They were always a delight to be around and work with.
After leaving LSU, I continued to work as a sedimentologist and petrologist within the oil industry up to 1996. My graduate work with Dr. Schiebout laid the foundation for
my later career as a geologist.
I did keep in touch with Dr. Schiebout on occasions when my wife, Jan, and I would visit family in Baton Rouge. She was always pleased to hear from us and, on occasion, joined us for lunch. My regret now is that I did not reach out to her more often, particularly during the last several years.
In closing, I can state that Dr. Schiebout provided me one of my first glimpses into living a life of passion. She was devoted to geology in general, vertebrate paleontology and field work in particular, and always, always her students, who she treated as family.
I will miss my visits with Dr. Schiebout and adventures of discovery.
Steve Rapp
President - RGS Scientific
Flowers sent to Judith during her illness.
A memory from Dr. Louis Jacobs
I am writing to express my sincere condolences over the passing of Dr. Judith Schiebout. I
have known Judy since graduate student days, having met her at Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology meetings in the 1970's. I even knew her parents who also came to the meetings.
When Judy came to Dallas from LSU she would visit my labs at SMU. Often she brought her
mother, who was delightful. While Judy and I pondered fossils, her mother would sit and make
the most beautiful and intricate paper cutouts. Whenever I visited family in Baton Rouge, I
would be sure to make time for Judy's lab. She had good students and she cared for them.
Among other things, she did wonders with the vertebrate fossil assets of Louisiana and she
was always concerned with their care, curation, and conservation. I understand that that she
was working on a book about Louisiana vertebrate fossils for the people of Louisiana and that
her colleagues will see her vision to completion. That is a wonderful tribute. She once said in
a meeting many years ago that she wanted to be remembered as a vertebrate paleontologist.
She will certainly be remembered as that, but also as a kind and bright friend.
Louis L. Jacobs
Professor Emeritus
Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences
President, ISEM
Southern Methodist University
1970s. Robert Rainey & Dr. Schiebout bagging conglomerate at Joe’s Bone Bed locality, Big Bend National Park.
A memory from the Chinese Academy of Sciences
We were profoundly saddened to hear the sad news of the passing of Judith A. Schiebout.
We had the privilege of knowing Dr. Schiebout for many years and always regarded her as a friend of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She made great contributions to paleomammalogy. She has invited colleagues from the IVPP to visit Louisiana State University and her positively helped American and Chinese paleontologists establish cooperation and communication. We will miss her so much.
Please accept our sincerest condolences,
Sincerely,
Department of Paleomammalogy
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology Chinese Academy of Sciences
2007. Tammie, Dr. Schiebout, and Suyin at the LSU Museum Natural Science’s Christmas Party.
Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Dr. Barb Dutrow
When I arrived at LSU in the early 1990s, Dr. Schiebout welcomed me with her usual, straightforward, cheery manner. She invited me to participate on many committees of her many outstanding graduate students (because I had received an M.S. degree in Vertebrate Paleontology) and was lucky to watch her mentor, teach, and share her unparalleled enthusiasm for paleontology and teaching the next generation of scientists. She embraced students with far-ranging interests, from mega- and micro- fauna to functional morphology. Nothing was too far afield for Judith – always pushing the boundaries.
Her fervent push for educating the public is still present on the LSU campus. The small building outside of the old Howe-Russell (HR) building was originally constructed for the “Dinomation” exhibit in the 1980s! Moving, animated dinosaurs, what more could you want! She was the driving force to get this amazing exhibit to come to campus, much to the delight of youngsters and the community. At that time, there was even a Museum Gift Store near HR 130. But mostly, I recall her as an ardent supporter of a future State Museum of Natural History (Science). Never have I seen someone push so hard, with such vision, and not give up even in the face of enormous headwinds. She conscripted any and all of us to help with her vision. She worked tirelessly, beginning over 30 years ago and with a mostly volunteer group of like-minded enthusiasts in an attempt to make this new museum come to fruition. She wanted it to encompass all of geology, have it located in an accessible place (off campus), and serve as an entree to educate kids and the public about the many facets of geology. She had the museum model worked out. Working together with another alumnus, Ed Picou, they had meetings with nearly everyone in the administration. With her personal funds, she generously brought in experts to 'show us how' to build a museum. Despite resistance, she was an unrelenting advocate - still speaking as recent as last year of a 'new museum'. That was Judith,
never giving up - with a wit that could tackle anyone. And she was brave, when she lost her leg, she got a new car and would wheel down to my office and come inside! For those of you who have seen my office, it is messy and full. That did not deter her, she was not going to talk in the hall. After a bit of rearranging, she motored on in and then had to back out! She expertly guided herself in and out and more than once with her new wheels! Truly amazing. That was Judith.
Always breaking new paths, she received her PhD when few women were in geology; she knew the difficulties women in science faced. She never stopped breaking barriers which sometimes resulted in head butting with others, but she was tough. We would run into each other in the hall, and she always had something to discuss or an idea to pursue. I will miss her, a woman of the generation that helped to pave the way for me.
We’ve lost a barrier breaking, witty, straight-talking brave woman, with her incredible knowledge of the Gulf Coast mega- and micro-fauna. She left an indelible mark on many.
Barb Dutrow
Professor of Geology, LSU
Dr. Schiebout’s office in the LSU Howe- Russell Geosciences Building. Flowers sent to Judith by Suyin to brighten her day at the rehabilitation facility form a simple memorial at her office door the day she passed away.
A memory from Bertha Hinojosa
I am so proud of my friend, Judith, and the way she helped people. She wanted children to learn about science and to ask questions about prehistoric animals. I took my son and daughter to her office many years ago. She gave me packets of fossils to share with my Boy Scouts and my elementary students so they could have real items to study. The focus in science classes is to study a subject like a scientist. Many students ask questions about their world because they want to know why things are like they are. She helped students of all ages, especially her
graduate students. She focused on helping others.
She worked hard to build a natural history museum in Baton Rouge on the LSU campus to house its many, valuable collections. She formed a group to lobby for this museum. She would have us talk to the public about the museum at the book festival held at the State Capitol. She died before her dream could come true.
Judith helped build our Alpha Xi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a society for women educators. Her mother was a member of our chapter. Judith joined our chapter a few years after her mother transferred in. She brought many members into the group and she served as our president for two years. She established a scholarship fund in honor of her mother, Helen Schiebout. The fund has helped teachers study for advanced degrees, helped honor volunteers, and supported beginning teachers. She was generous, supportive, and determined to keep the chapter going. Thank you, Judith.
Judith, my husband, and I would go eat Mexican food at Ninfa’s. She loved beans, chips, and salsa. We would also go to the Drunken Fish at times. The corona virus kept us from gathering and then she went to the hospital. I wish we could have protected her from that virus.
She supported me when I was helping my husband recover from a stroke that occurred in May of 2019. She gave me lessons on how to encourage him to improve. She loaned us a walker. Even in death, she shares her equipment and belongings with others. Judith had a huge heart that reached out to help others.
She loved her cat, Cassia, even though her cat was not always kind to her. She had patience and protected her feline friend.
She was loyal and generous. We will miss her brilliant mind, her kindness, and her wit. Her life was cut short.
Bertha Hinojosa
Flowers from friends brightened Judith’s days during her illness.
Cassia, Judith’s beloved cat, will be moving to a cat sanctuary in California in the near future. She was lovingly taken care of by Monica and Jessica during Judith’s illness, and they will care for her until her relocation.
Pictures from friends, family, and colleagues
A memory from Dr. Walter Joyce
I was an exchange student at LSU in '98/'99, but Judy kindly provided me with a desk space in
the museum and warmly included me in all lab activities, including Pizza Fridays. Judy had a
pleasant personality that seemed to be an anachronistic leftover of a more innocent past. She
always spoke calmly and only had good things to say about other people. She referred to her
mother, whom she lovingly took care of, as "Ma," and persistently called the woman with whom
I was cohabitating, a doctoral student from the department, "your little girlfriend." Judy loved
the heat and her office was a lone fortress in the department against centralized air
conditioning. Judy, many thanks for your support and kindness.
May you rest in peace.
University of Fribourg
Switzerland
Walter Joyce, PhD
Department of Geosciences
2011. Packing Tulane donation. Submitted by Lorene.
A memory from Barry Meyer
Dr. Judy, as I knew her, was an incredible and incomparable gift to all those who had the good fortune to know her. Her kind and gentle nature may, at first, appeared to some to be masked by a seemingly hard shell...a matrix of sorts. Once the shell was cracked and the matrix removed Dr. Judy’s true spirit came to light. I learned to see beneath the shell and into the matrix first as a "citizen scientist" and later as a board member of the Friends of the Louisiana Museum of Natural History Foundation.
Dr. Judy was as tenacious as she was passionate regarding a variety of social issues and causes. She was as equally passionate and tenacious about sharing her fascination and love for the fossilized past. Dr. Judy was pleased when others...especially children (kiddos as she called them) and students found delight in the wonders of the past. She shared in their joy of discoveries, wither they be from a class, a tour of the collection or an excursion into the field.
Preserving the past in a safe and secure environment that would provide opportunities for discovery by scholars, students and “kiddos” for generations to come was perhaps one of Dr. Judy’s greatest causes. Her devotion to the effort was but another example of her passion and her tenacity as well as of her sharing and giving nature. Dr. Judy’s efforts to preserve the past as a gift to the future may perhaps be one of the most significant aspects of her legacy, her bequest, to us all.
Barry Meyer
A field trip to Ice Age sediments with students. Photo provided by Bill Lee.
Memories from Cindy Schneider
I remember her vests. Judy was never without her vests - knitted, patterned, colorful - and they were always matched with a turtleneck.
I remember Judy sitting at our family table every Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving.
I remember Judy and her Landcruiser, a rugged vehicle for adventures into the wilds.
Judy emailed a few years back when there were public hearings about a chemical plant in West Baton Rouge Parish. She was concerned about the environment and the safety of the community. She knew I teach community nursing and my students would want to know about a real issue that could affect health.
In her younger days Judy loved to garage sale with my mother-in-law every Saturday. It was social event and she enjoyed watching Fern chat with every neighbor.
Cindy Schneider, MSN, RN, CWOCN Assistant Professor
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University
Photo from Judith Burch.
Photos from Dr. Ray Wilhite
A dig site at Fort Polk, Louisiana, 2001.
Baton Rouge Earth Day, 2006.
Pictures from friends, family and colleagues
Memories posted to the Rabenhorst Funeral Home
From Woodson Godfrey
October 29, 2020
As always, this comes as unexpected. Judith Schiebout was a remarkable helper in supplying me with a thesis focus and aided me endlessly as I went along in my career. Although micropaleontology was far enough from her focus, she went along famously with encouraging me in my studies. There have been few like her and never enough with her kindness and attributes. She is missed.
From Arlyce Schiebout
October 13, 2020
I have fond memories of cousin Judy’s visits to northwest Iowa when we were children. Sending my sympathy to her friends and colleagues.
From Barbara OConnor
October 8, 2020
Judy and I both graduated in 1964 from Robert E. Lee High School in San Antonio, Texas. I’d lost track of her until I mentioned to a classmate that my daughter was in grad school studying Paleontology. He told me that our old classmate, Judy Schiebout had acquired her Doctorate in Paleontology and was teaching at LSU. My daughter called and spoke with Judy who encouraged her to continue her studies. They reconnected again when my daughter received her Doctorate and accepted a teaching position at The University of Southern Mississippi. I will remember Judy as a most unique, focused and committed individual, a scientist through and through.
From Kathy Rossman
October 1, 2020
Judy did many good and generous deeds quietly. She was a good and loyal best friend and guardian angel to my mother, Nita. When I lived out of state, Judy kept mom company with calls, and lunches and invited her to cat shows and gem & mineral shows. When I was home for a visit and when I moved back to Baton Rouge, Judy took us out to lunch. When my mother had a severe stroke, Judy visited mom in the hospital and nursing home and checked up on me while I was dealing with mom's house, bills, etc. Judy read one of my mom's favorite passages at her funeral, and then she kept a watchful eye on me. I remember our talks on the phone and over lunch. Judy was so smart and accomplished, but also a good and dear lady through and through! I'll miss her, but she is in God's house now, a much better place where all her physical struggles are over.
Dr. Schiebout loved flowers. This is a photo an amaryllis that she gave to Lorene. Contributed by Lorene.
A memory from Dr. Pamela Borne Blanchard
Dr. Judith Schiebout was one of the few people I knew when I arrived on the LSU campus in August 1992 to begin my doctoral studies. Professors from Lamar University, Drs. Jim Westgate, Jim Stevens, and Margaret Stevens were familiar with her research work in Big Bend, so they encouraged me to seek her out and introduce myself. Eventually I found my way to her office. There, Judith sat in her office, tightly surrounded by an office filled with books and journal articles. To my surprise, despite the heat and humidity of a Louisiana summer, Dr. Schiebout had a small electric heater running full blast and her left leg was covered with a blanket! Goodness! I remember it being so hot in her office! As Thanksgiving neared, she invited me to her home to share Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve always been so touched by, and so grateful for, that invitation. Over
the 28 years I’ve been at LSU, she remains the only professor to have extended such an invitation to me.
I enjoyed being around Dr. Schiebout and her flock of vertebrate paleontologist students. I enjoyed searching for fossils and was more than happy to go to Fort Polk to look for and recover fossils there. On one occasion, someone found a very delicate fossil that needed to be carefully removed from the sediment it which it was preserved. To my astonishment she sat down on the ground and scooted around until she was on her belly with her tools working to recover that fossil. She wasn’t the least bit mindful of the summer heat and the Sun beating down on her. My memory is almost identical to the picture at the upper right. It’s one of my favorite memories of her.
Dr. Schiebout came to my graduation party in 1998. She came to my wedding in 1998. She organized a baby shower for me in 2001. She remained a steady presence through all my years in Baton Rouge, sometimes inviting me for lunch at the Drunken Fish or local pizza place, sometimes just touching base with a phone call. I developed the habit of driving past her house on Morning Glory on my way to a school or on errands just to see if her Paleo van was parked in the drive.
The characteristics that I most admired Dr. Schiebout for were her determination, gentleness and kindness, her keen mind and her sharp wit. She had a way of turning a phrase that I can only describe as a “Judy-ism.” She was always interested in what was going on in my life - she always asked after my husband, Tommy, and my son, Paul, and even my flock of chickens.
This world desperately needs more kindness like Judith offered so willingly. I miss her.
Pam Blanchard, PhD
School of Education Louisiana State University
1990s. Dr. Schiebout recovering a delicate fossil at Fort Polk. Photo from Judith Burch.
After Suyin’s doctoral defense. Left to right: Suyin, Margaret Stevens, Pam Blanchard, Judith. 1995.
Gardens
I know a garden, tho’ the hands
That tended it are gone,
The sweet, old-fashioned flowers that
Once flourished there, live on;
Still daffodils and crocus star
The cedar’s deepest shade,
And hyacinths remember where
The winding paths were laid.
Ah, loved ones gone! My heart is like
A garden long bereft,
Where only sturdy, long-lived things,
(The sweetest too) are left,
For thoughts of you, like daffodils
Still light my deepest gloom,
And down paths of memory
Are hyacinths in bloom.
~ Lillian Hall Trichel
Sharon Hensley (Piechnik)
I read every last word of the tributes, and it sounds like she was a very remarkable lady who touched countless lives. It also sounds like even though she never had children of her own, she fostered many, many people as though they were her own through her love for education and paleontology. And although she lost a leg at some time, it certainly didn't appear to slow her down. God bless you, Judy, and may you rest in peace. (I would love to see all the pictures that were referenced...guess I'll Google the funeral home and see if they are there.)