Judith O. Tisdale passed away at the age of 84 on December 11, 2025 in San Diego, CA.  She had lived in Escondido for the past 27 years forming lasting friends and community ties.  She died from various auto immune diseases.

Judith was born on July 23, 1941 in San Diego County Hospital at 4:45pm to Esmeralda Guerra and Felipe T. Sarati.  She grew up in San Diego with her 6 siblings and many cousins.  She attended Our Lady of Angels Catholic School from first to eighth grade.  She spent the freshman year of high school at St. Joseph's Juniorate in Orange, CA.  Her last 3 years of high school were at Rosary High located at 42nd & Polk Avenue in San Diego.

She began her working career at North Island Naval Air Stations on Coronado Island in San Diego as a clerk typist.  In 1964 she met and married Lt James Tisdale.  They spent the next 7 years at various duty stations from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state to San Bruno, CA to South Korea.  The couple gave birth to 3 sons during that time.  Robert was born at Whidbey Island, Michael in San Francisco and Edward in South Korea.

She resumed her civil service career in 1982 back at North Island as a budget analyst and continued at Camp Pendleton until she retired in 2001.

She had a love for animals, so she got a job at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido and spent 11 years working there.  Following that she began her volunteer work at the Escondido Library.  She continued that until her death.

Throughout her life she made lifelong friends.  Every day she would come home talking about a friend she met that day.  She enjoyed gardening, reading, cooking and crocheting. She also was a devoted Catholic serving on many ministries and attending bible study groups.

She is survived by her husband James; sons Robert, Michael and Edward and 3 grandchildren, Samuel, Jane and Millie.

A funeral mass will be held at 10am, Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church, 2960 Canyon Road in Escondido.  Interment will follow at 2:30pm at Miramar National Cemetery, 5795 Nobel Drive, San Diego.

She is greatly missed by her husband, family and friends.