Julia "Judy" Hackney Dubus

Julia “Judy” Hackney Dubus, 79, died on June 10 in Knoxville, Tennessee after a long struggle with Lewy Body Dementia. Judy was born on April 13, 1946 to Warren and Dorothy Hackney in Albany, Georgia. She graduated from Albany High School in 1964, where she excelled in English, Latin, and history. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Georgia in 1968. While attending UGA, she met her husband, Gustave “Gus” Robert Dubus III, a law student from Savannah, Georgia. They married in October 1968. She settled in Savannah while Gus served in the United States Army in Vietnam. He returned to Savannah in 1970 and began practicing law; Judy taught history at Johnson High School. She was active in the women’s movement in the 1970s, founded the Savannah chapter of the National Organization for Women, and served as its president for several years. Judy became interested in libraries, worked as a librarian at Benedictine Military School, and earned a Master of Library Science from Florida State University in 1975. She was a reference librarian at the Henderson Library of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. In 1990, after several years as a homemaker and stay-at-home mother, she returned to work as a reference librarian at the Lane Library of Armstrong State College (later Armstrong Atlantic State University). An avid reader with an inquisitive mind, she helped many students, faculty members, and other library patrons with their research. She retired from AASU in 2010, and remained in Savannah until 2021, when she moved to Tennessee to live near her family. Judy adored cats, and provided a warm, loving home for many stray felines over the years. A self-described “armchair gardener,” she enjoyed reading about plants and visiting public gardens. Her other interests included music of various genres, British cinema and television, and researching health and wellness. She spent many hours cooking healthy meals for her family, and she inspired in her daughter a lifelong enthusiasm for holistic health. She is survived by her daughter Joanna Dubus Rogers, son-in-law Jason Rogers, grandson Benjamin Rogers, mother Dorothy Manning Hackney, and sister Kay Hackney Grant. She was preceded in death by her husband Gustave Robert Dubus III (1943-1996).

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Julia "Judy" Hackney Dubus

April 13, 1946 - June 10, 2025