The family moved to Tucson, Arizona, when Judith was five years old, shortly after her mother remarried Benson Bloom.

[2] [3][4] However, the award ceremony was held in a men's club and she had to enter through the kitchen to receive the plaque.

[5] Chafee graduated from Yale as the only woman in her class and went on to work for Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and The Architects Collaborative (Walter Gropius).

[1][6] At the age of 38 Chafee returned to her native Tucson, Arizona to start her own architectural practice.

[5] The Judith Chafee papers are held at the University of Arizona Special Collections library.