Judith Reever, Laconia's champion for children, dies at 82

LACONIA — For decades, there was a door in Lakeport that would open to any child in need of shelter. The hand that opened that door belonged to Judith Reever, a native of Laconia who suffered a pair of tragedies as a child and grew into a person who dedicated herself to bettering the lives of all the children she could reach.

Reever, 82, died on Monday night, following a period of declining health. Details of memorial services are still being finalized. A representative of her family said the public will be welcome.

Reever was born on Sept. 24, 1940, at Laconia Hospital, to parents Iva Witham and Duncan Taylor, according to her daughter, Beth Arsenault. Reever met the love of her life when she was just 14 and attending Laconia High School. James Reever was two years older, had a car, and “she had a terrible crush on him,” Arsenault said.

Life moved quickly for the young couple. They were married when Reever was 17, and started their family. Reever gave birth to three children, though her motherhood extended far beyond that number. Judith and James became foster parents, adopted a fourth child, and provided a home for 16 other children placed in their care by the State of New Hampshire.

There were many more children and young adults who found a place for themselves in her home, Arsenault said. Some were foreign exchange students, others were from the city but, for one reason or another, weren’t welcome at their own home. But they were welcomed at the Reevers’.

As a mother, “She was amazing,” Arsenault said. “She was everybody’s favorite mom, she was a wonderful storyteller, she loved kids, she was very patient, she was very creative, the whole neighborhood would come down to listen to her ghost stories.” Arsenault recalled summer days when the whole family would laze at Leavitt Beach — now Bond Beach — and when her father came down after work, her mother would disappear for a while, then return with dinner.

“She had quite a few surrogate children who ended up living with us during tough times in their lives,” Arsenault said.

Reever possessed only a high school diploma, but didn’t allow that to limit her ability to shape the world around her. She was a passionate advocate for the wellbeing of children, beginning with a 21-year tenure on the Laconia School Board. As an example of her service to the district, Reever was one of the founders of the Laconia Endowment Educational Foundation, which continues to fund teacher requests that don’t make it into the district’s budget. In 2022, LEEF gave more than $10,000 in grants to city classrooms.

Reever’s advocacy brought her to Concord. She was a member of the state School Board Association, and was named by then-Gov. Jeanne Shaheen to chair the State Board of Education from 2001 to 2004. She then served two terms as a state representative.

“When you think of her life, it’s amazing what she created out of it,” Arsenault said.

Bob Champlin, former superintendent for Laconia schools, remembers Reever fondly. "She was such an advocate of public education and Laconia ... I had so many great talks with her and learned so much about public speaking and shared leadership," he wrote in an email to The Daily Sun.  

Henry Lipman, city councilor for Ward 3 and former executive for LRGHealthcare — which has since been absorbed into the Concord Hospital system — got to know Reever when she was appointed to the hospital’s board of trustees. He said she was a “very civic-minded individual ... She was a very engaged person in the time that I knew her.” He sees her as similar to other recently deceased city leaders, such as former Mayor Ed Engler and longtime City Councilor Bob Hamel. She was like them, he said, in that she “tried to leave the community in a better place, not necessarily in it for herself ... She gave a lot of herself to others. I have great admiration and respect for the things she contributed to.”

On the hospital board, Lipman said Reever was focused not just on improving the quality of care, “but also make it better for the workforce as well, always looking out for the common person.” She eventually rose to the position of chair of the hospital board, a group that often includes the most decorated medical officers, as well as leaders of the community’s industry and financial services. Lipman noted that Reever often found herself in positions of leadership, propelled by the respect she earned from whomever spent time around her.

“She went a long way in life with what she had for formal education,” Lipman said. “She was a very compassionate person, she was a very giving person.”

That compassion and generosity was connected to her own experiences with tragedy and loss, Arsenault said. While Reever was still a girl, her infant brother, who had been born prematurely, died. She also suffered the death of her father, who had lost his job with the railroad, then died by suicide. Those two losses “pretty much destroyed her mother,” Arsenault said.

“I think she grew up trying to recreate the family that she lost. She was determined to make the family that was perfect ... She loved being at home, taking care of children, with both a mother and a father, because once her father died, her mother worked full time and wasn’t in the house,” Arsenault said. “She always wanted things to be calm and loving. We had foster children who said they had never seen what a functional family was like,” until they lived at the Reevers’, and they left determined to create such a home for their own family.

Jim Carroll is now a judge at Laconia District Court, but he first came to know Reever through her children, as he was running a restaurant where three of her children came to work.

“They were the best example of values she instilled in her children,” Carroll said. He later served alongside Reever on the school board. “Those young people, now older, were perfect examples of the kinds of values that Judie had and put into her work as a school board member, put into her work as a parent, and put into her work for the community.”

About Reever, Carroll said, “The community is better because of her, but will never be able to make up the loss.”