Judith Pauly: World's Oldest Living Crone reported by Mary Walilko

By the way she spent her birthday, you would have never guessed it was her 70th.

Today, a little more than one year later she is sitting in front of a swimming pool in Florida, enjoying the warmth and sunshine. Tomorrow morning she leaves for Boston to facilitate a WWTW, then she is off to California to facilitate another WWTW weekend. Within a few weeks she will be in South Africa for the first Women Empowering Women (WEW) Weekend presented in South Africa where 34 South African women are waiting for her and the rest of the staff. Judith does not have time to be a senior citizen in any traditional sense; she is much too busy traveling around the world connecting with women who need her energy and wisdom.

What was her life like “before:” before her WWTW in 1988, before she starting staffing, before becoming a WW Crone, and now a weekend leader? Judith replied, “I had handsome and successful advertising executive husband and three beautiful children. We lived in a large beautiful house in Evanston, a North Shore Chicago suburb. I was head of the PTA, Docent of the Museum of Modern Art in Chicago, Deacon at my church. I liked my life but the children were in trouble and everything was falling apart”.

Mary: What was your WWTW like in 1988?

Judith: Char Tosi was there. The weekends were very loosely structured back then with very few rules. I only remember one rule: "Don't hit anyone."

Judith was quick to point out that she was no longer a WW Crone: “I was a WW Crone but left because I did not want to spend my time on protocol. I became a weekend leader which is my passion.”

This prompted me to as her if she liked to break the rules: “It’s been said about me that I like to break the rules. I . . . resist the rules. I have been told I have a Cloud of Dust (lots of stuff happening) around me but I really comes into my power when I allow myself to become an open channel.” On the carpet: ”it works when I become a channel for the Divine/Source. Someone told me, I make "connections with absolutely everyone."

Has she always been highly intuitive? Judith said she was told she was "wise" when she was a child. She loves working with people, creating connections.

Mary: What is your greatest joy?

Judith: “Being in connection with my Higher Power and with other women. Oh, and very close to that are my two grandsons.”


What Judith wants us to know about her: Judith says she has an awful lot to learn. Being part of the Diversity Committee is a chance to ???? She likes to be the outrageous crone, such as wearing t-shirts with sayings like, "older than dirt."

Her greatest stretch? Follow-though with what she has to do, with all that she wants to do, especially paperwork. Creates workshops but loses things, has hired administrative assistants to help her with these things: (Stephanie Helfer and Teresita Fawcett).

Her biggest shadow? Feelings of inadequacy, that she is not doing it right, never knows if it is good enough, asking those around her if it was okay (after carpet work process).

I asked her what she wanted to say to other women. “What women need is a commitment to bring peace into the world, need to be in connection with the feminine warrior energy. Each women must learn to love and forgive herself and find her beautiful, shining soul, has to open herself to create change.’ “We are not alone; ego needs to get out of the way; stay authentic, take risks, following our bliss.”

In her personal life, Judith is divorced, the mother of three and grandmother to two little boys. She has a place in her sister’s home in Florida as well as rooms reserved for her in five other homes around the country, including two in Chicago, one in Denver, one in ??? She loves to play board games and card games. She knits. Judith knitted Affirmation Scarves for the first South African WWTW last year, placing affirmation energy into each of the scarves.

I asked her what her kids thought of their mother’s life today. “My son is in awe of me. My youngest daughter worries about me when she does not know where I am. My oldest daughter ??”

The one thing she said she misses from her old life is not having everything in one place. Judith does not like living in Florida, thinks it's boring. “The only thing people do is go out to eat. But this could be because I have not integrated into the community or made many connections.”

Judith enjoyed her life before and still does many of the same thing she used to do: such as, coming to Chicago in December to spend time with family and go to the annual Chicago Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert.

I asked her what she will do when she retires: “I would to like to have a healing center: a beautiful place in nature, with workshops, alternative medicine, yoga, all the healing arts.” I can sense this will become a reality for Judith.

Oh, and she spent her 70th birthday at Four Flags Great American, riding on six roller coasters.






The Weekends Judith has created include, "From Princess to Queen," for girls ages 13 – 17, (based on MKP's Boys to Men weekend), "Finding Mother Peace" for women who want to connect with their mother, "Shame Busters," a one-day workshop, and "Unleashing the Power of Your Soul," connecting with your soul and ?????