A common theme throughout Summit’s entire 38-year history has been the tireless energy and enthusiasm for independent living that Jude Monson brought to work every day. We have missed that energy the past couple of months since Jude retired at the end of April to focus on rehabilitation following a severe stroke earlier this year.

We are happy to report, however, that she is doing well and still making progress with recovery. She is still as enthusiastic as ever about independent living, now with a focus inward and on regaining her own independence, drawing on a career’s worth of experience assisting others in similar circumstances.

Jude’s contributions to Summit over her nearly four decades-long career are many. She was one of the original staff when Summit was established in October 1981 as a department of Community Rehabilitation Center in Missoula and first started operating as a non-profit out of a duplex on Clark Street in early 1982.

In the early years, Jude’s main focus was teaching independent living skills to people with spinal cord injury, brain injury and other severe disabilities as they transitioned from the rehabilitation center into the community.

That role expanded as Summit extended services to people with other types of disabilities and expanded geographically outside of Missoula – first to the Bitterroot Valley, then later to Lake and Flathead Counties. Jude was extensively involved with community outreach and public education efforts to spread the word about Summit’s services. She has been a strong advocate for increased affordable and accessible housing options, accessible public transportation, personal assistance services, and other community resources critical for living independently.Jude was instrumental in Summit’s advocacy efforts in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the late 1980s as the bill moved through Congress and was finally signed into law on July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. Her organizational skills and ability to motivate people about self and systems advocacy was effective in Summit’s grassroots advocacy work to help people describe their needs and share their first-hand experience with discrimination. This was part of a national effort spearheaded by Justin Dart to present Congress with the collective experience of people with disabilities in all 50 states and the need for the ADA to prohibit discrimination based on disability.

Jude’s role at Summit expanded again in the early 1990s when Summit was awarded a grant through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which allowed us to establish small branch offices in Kalispell, Ronan and Hamilton to provide more comprehensive independent living services and have a physical presence in more Western Montana communities. Jude played an instrumental role with the planning and implementation of activities that led to the establishment of the branch offices, and she provided oversight of those offices in their first two or three years of operation. Her organizational skills and ability to garner support for Summit and the independent living movement in these outlying communities and rural areas were essential in getting the branch offices off the ground and running smoothly.