FARMINGTON – The Golf Association of Michigan was saddened by the death this week of longtime GAM Governor James Judge (Troy/Oakland Hills) and avid tournament golfer Sue Van Ess (Egypt Valley/Grand Rapids).
Van Ess, 53, and her father, Jack, were champions in the first GAM Parent & Child tournament. She competed in many other GAM tournaments through the years and had a great passion for the game. She was a graduate of Ottawa Hills High School class of 1975, attended Central Michigan University and was a huge fan of Michigan State University athletics. Van Ess was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in 2009.
Judge was a fervid supporter of the GAM and gave freely of his time to help with different GAM events and to chair the GAM’s Communications Committee. He was one of those people who could not go someplace without running into someone he knew. Judge was a devout Catholic and devoted husband, father and grandfather. His favorite saying was: “Live your life half full, not half empty!”
