Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

April 26, 2025

Dr. Judith Lynne Gaynor (née Braucher), 75, passed away on April 26, 2025, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease/Lewy Body Dementia. Daughter of the late Brig. Gen. Ernest Paul Baucher and Helen Brookes “Brooksie” Flinn, Jude was born on July 27, 1949 in Waltham, MA, and spent much of her early life on military bases around the world with her parents, older brother David, and younger brother Jeff. Her favorite of these disparate and far-flung locales was in France, where her family lived among stone fruit trees. She earned a BA in Psychology from Mount Holyoke College in 1972 and a PhD. in Psychometrics from Columbia University Teacher’s College in 1983, but it wasn’t until she added an MA in Social Work from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration to her credentials in 1997—often studying late into the night as a single mother to three young children—that she was able to fully realize her professional passion as a family therapist. 

Jude found deep meaning in her roles as a therapist and a mother. When she cared about something, she worked at it, embracing the idea that while our roles may have static labels, they are paths, not destinations—and thus are perpetual works-in-progress. She understood that this work (often hard and without immediate or personal reward) was a way to show reverence and devotion. She worked at being a therapist, and a cook, and a musician, and an artist, and a late-in-life triathlete. Above all, she worked at being a great mother. And she succeeded gloriously. 

In every aspect of her life, she was deeply kind, empathetic, and curious. She had a ferocious intellect. She loved to find the answers to questions, but she was at home, too, in unknowing. She was a skilled artist and a tinkerer, repairing things in unexpected and beautiful ways. She was a voracious reader, both of books and of anything for which her children or friends needed her keen editorial eye. She was a singularly great listener. Jude had an unimpeachable sense of what was just and unjust, and quietly acted always toward the former. Her presence in the world made it both more interesting and more welcoming. 

In addition to her brothers, friends, and the myriad clients whose lives she enriched, Jude is survived by her children, Joe, Caroline, and Jessie; their spouses, Mark, James, and Robbie; and her beloved grandchildren, Gavin, Jessie, M.J., Frances, and Sybil.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in her name to Undue Medical Debt, an organization that helps erase financially burdensome medical debt, in recognition of Jude’s strong belief that healthcare is a human right.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606. Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.