Hall of Fame
Franklin, Virginia native Judy Parsons did not venture far from her roots when she first came to Chowan in 1985. She attended Chowan, then a junior college, for one brief year before returning in 1994. Judy’s success on the basketball court was inspirational to many because she was nearly 10 years older than many of her teammates. Judy, also known as “Jumping Judy”, made a name for herself with her grit and determination inside the paint while wearing the Chowan Blue and White.
Judy played her high school basketball at Franklin High School in Franklin, VA under the legendary coach, Peggy Wilkins. After a stellar high school career, she came to Chowan in 1985. When she returned nearly 10 years later, she still had three years of eligibility, and became an integral part of the Chowan women’s basketball team. Rebounding was Judy’s specialty and she racked up double-digit rebounds frequently in her three seasons. She amassed 27 double doubles from 1994-1997.
Judy also played one year of softball and one year of tennis while at Chowan. She graduated in 1998 with a B.S. in Sports Science.
After college, she married her soulmate, George Turner, and they remodeled a 170-year-old farmhouse. She received her teaching degree from Old Dominion University in 2000 and began teaching Health and Physical Education at Luther Porter Jackson Middle School in Surry County, Virginia. She coached the middle school girls’ basketball team to their first win in 2000 and took the team to 3 winning seasons before a debilitating illness forced her to stop teaching and coaching.
Judy and George were blessed to have two children through those years, a son, Nathan, who is 12 and a daughter, AnnaBelle Farrar, age 9.
She and her husband own a roofing company and a small family farm on the outskirts of Wakefield, Virginia where she raises and sells guineas and maintains a growing apiary.
