Chair Honors Parent, Gives Hope for Leukemia Research

Behind the quick-witted Tennessee drawl of Judith “Judy” Talley Secor, there is a strong woman with a zest for life and a passion for dogs. Especially schnauzers, like Duchess III, one in a long line of the breed to grace the Secor household.

Donor Judy Secor with MCVF supporters
(left to right) Dr. Ghulam Qureshi, Mary Qureshi, Dr. John Nestler, Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. Steven Grossman, Deputy Director of VCU Massey Cancer Center and Chairman, Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Palliative Care, Brian Thomas, Interim President, MCV Foundation, and Judith Talley Secor (seated).
Photo Credit: VCU University Marketing

For years, she and her late husband, Henry, a retired organic chemist at Philip Morris, helped improve the lives of needy four-legged friends through donations and planned gifts. Judy, a retired high school history teacher who taught for 26 years, is an avid golfer and Duplicate Bridge player. Recently, she took stock of her own needs and established the Judith Talley Secor Chair at VCU Massey Cancer Center with a $1 million gift that will be matched by the Glasgow Endowment.

Diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2006, Judy considers herself lucky that her condition is stable for the moment. There may come a time, she says, when she’ll need to consider chemotherapy to help keep the cancer at bay. “I’ve supported the Richmond SPCA and the Richmond Animal League and the Chesterfield Humane Society, and I’ll always continue that,” she said. “Then I started thinking, ‘why don’t I give to myself [through this gift] and maybe they’ll find a cure for CLL!’”

Judy’s father, a successful Chattanooga real estate developer, had always been concerned about his daughter growing old with no children to care for her later in life. So he made sure to plan for her in his estate.

“My father wanted to be sure I had enough money to go into a nursing home if necessary,” she said. “So he provided for me and I’m grateful. He always said, ‘there’s nothing worse than being old and poor. I’m going to make sure that you’re not poor, there’s nothing I can do about your being old.’”

Taking stock of her finances and her favorite charities, Judy found a way to continue her assistance to dogs and cats as well as to create a chair at Massey in honor of her parents, Flora Hudson and James Pleasant Talley.

“It’s their money!” she laughed.

The gift also pays tribute to Dr. G. Watson James who established the Division of Hematology and Oncology at MCV. “It is an honor for Massey Cancer Center to be the recipient of the profound generosity represented by Mrs. Secor’s gift,” said Gordon D. Ginder, M.D., director of VCU Massey Cancer Center. “The Judith Talley Secor Chair will be an enormous help in continuing to build our team of nationally-renowned experts in hematologic malignancies, in turn advancing our translational research in this area. I have no doubt Mrs. Secor’s gift will be a lasting legacy and an inspiration to others.”