Carol Ann Judge (née Anderson; June 7, 1941 – December 7, 2014) was an American healthcare advocate and registered nurse.
[1][2] Judge was a longtime advocate for numerous issues, including universal kindergarten, health care reform, and the ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Carol Judge, who was 31 years old at the time, became the youngest First Lady in the history of Montana, a record she still holds today.
She visited twelve state hospitals in an effort to call attention to poor living conditions for patients.
[1] In the brochure, Carol Judge wrote specifically about Warm Springs State Hospital, "Here, as in Boulder, we find a terrible shortage of staff, poor wages and inadequate housing.
[1] The government of Montana also began a deinstitutionalization of some patients, by moving them out of psychiatric hospitals and into local living centers.
In response, the operators of the group homes would invite Carol Judge, who was popular as First Lady, to their openings and events to speak with neighbors and community leaders.
[1] In the early 1970s, Carol Judge teamed with other U.S. state first ladies to draw attention to low immunization rates among schoolchildren.
"[3] In 1979, Governor Judge signed legislation to require that all Montana schoolchildren receive mandatory immunizations for certain diseases.
[1] She then led the campaign to legally classify alcoholism as a disease after the American Medical Association revised its own position.
[1] In 1977, Carol Judge was appointed to the Liaison Panel on Alcohol Related Problems for the President's Mental Health Commission.