Biography:

Judy Oliver Bash Ph. D. went to be with her Lord on September 14, 2026, due to a lengthy illness of the rare disease Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA). She was born in Sylacauga, Alabama on November 15, 1942, to loving parents Bruce Oliver and Bobby Clay Oliver. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Bruce Oliver Jr. She is survived by her brother Philip Oliver (Ranko) of Bryant, sister Kay Oliver Hodnett of Little Rock, sister-in-law Kris Oliver of Alabama, nephews Mike Oliver (Mary) and Mark Oliver, precious niece Kunky Oliver, stepchildren Dave Bash III, Bob Bash (Kari) and Cindy lmber (Dave), as well as many beloved cousins, friends and church members. Most of all, she cherished the love of her life, her devoted husband Dr. David Bash of Little Rock, Arkansas.

She earned her B.A. from the University of Alabama, M.S. ln Human Resource Development from American University in Washington DC, and her Ph.D. in Latin American history from Louisiana State University.

Judy had a lifelong interest in foreign cultures, and as a young person she lived in Mexico for a year, where she first served as a student teacher at the American School and later worked as a bilingual secretary. During her graduate school years, with the assistance of a Graduate Council Fellowship from LSU, she spent several months in Costa Rica, where she interviewed, in Spanish, five former presidents and other government officials of the country as part of an oral history project for her Ph.D. dissertation.

She moved to Washington DC in 1974 and began thirty-four years of work for the Central Intelligence Agency, serving as a political analyst, a manager, and an instructor on analysis techniques and management. ln her later years as a consultant to the Agency, accompanied by her husband, she taught courses in Africa, the Middle East, Hawaii, Japan, Central and South America and the Caribbean. She was certified in Spanish at native-speaker level, and she taught in that language, as well as interpreted for other instructors, for her multiple courses throughout Latin America.

All her life, Judy reached out to the less advantaged. ln her government years, she focused on people with disabilities, serving as Chairman of a Task Force on People with Disabilities that set policies and recommended accommodations that opened doors for many people. She also founded a Committee on Mental and Emotional Disabilities that assisted employees and their family members, and recruited and mentored the first developmentally disabled employee to work at the CIA.

ln retirement, Judy came to realize that the most disadvantaged in our society were not people but animals, and she and her husband worked actively on behalf of policies that helped animals, especially farm animals. They gave presentations and served vegan meals in various venues, taught Sunday School lessons on Christian responsibilities toward animals, leafletted on college campuses, did advocacy work on the state and federal level, participated in protests, and wrote innumerable letters and petitions to companies and state and federal representatives. lt was very satisfying to them to see the growth of the vegan movement in the U.S. and the European Union.

Judy always loved travel. She and her husband made a point of accompanying each other on their numerous official trips abroad, and in addition they traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia on their own. A favorite trip was a small ship expedition cruise to Antarctica where they landed nine times on the Antarctic continent and had close views of thousands of penguins in the wild.

The family asks that those who want to contribute to her memory consider the Agapa New Challenges Sunday School Class at Saint James United Methodist Church in Little Rock or the Christian Vegetarian Association.

The funeral service will be at the St. James United Methodist Church, 321 Pleasant Valley Rd, on September, the 24^th, at 2:00 pm. Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com