Judith Palache Gregory

Judith Palache Gregory (1932–2017), also known as Judith Gregory, was an American writer, counselor, educator, and permaculturalist, who served as executor for Dorothy Day after lifelong friendship that began with her editing for the Catholic Worker.

Background

Judith Palache Gregory was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 26, 1932.

After completing her M.Ed., she worked at the Harvard College Bureau of Study Counsel from 1962 to 1973. Ammon Hennacy noted her presence in his autobiography The Book of Ammon, writing, "When Judith Gregory was here she was interested in farming communes and co-op housing."

In her diary, Dorothy Day recorded her wish that Gregory become her executor: To Dorothy Tully to sign will. Judith [Gregory] is responsible if Chas and I both die.Then to lunch with Chas... Delightful day. Day also described her: When Judy is in the city working at St. Joseph's House, she keeps her nose buried in desk work. She sits there answering the mail, answering papers, and filing orders for books and pamphlets–and carrying on the most heated discussions on anything from religion with any of the college crowd who happen to drop in.

She died on 20 January 2017. She herself also wrote of Day: Dorothy was not a good listener. She was impatient to be off to her own work... When... asked if she had really drunk Eugene O'Neill under the table, she said testily, "When you stay up all night you have to have something to keep you going"... Dorothy was by no means always repressive and severe. She could enjoy the comic aspect of things. In the winter of 1962, some young people started a magazine called F--- You, and composed it in the Catholic Worker office. When Dorothy discovered this, she told them to leave. They were taken in by the American Friends Service Committee, where they changed the name of the magazine to F--- Thee. When Dorothy heard about this, she laughed out loud.

Works

Gregory wrote:

"Remembering Dorothy Day," America (1981) Women's Wages: A Key to Preserving Middle Income Jobs (1986) Philosophy of the Green Revolution (1991) "'Catholic Worker' Lessons Stayed with Me," National Catholic Reporter (1997)

She appears or contributed through her own collected papers at Harvard University to works regarding Dorothy Day:

Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments (1984) The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day (2011)