Hall of Fame
Judi Kingry
by Pat Moynihan-Morris
The OHEIB Hall of Fame Award was established 26 years ago to honour and highlight the many accomplishments of our Home Economists. These outstanding women helped define our profession and were indeed often the first in their fields. All past Hall of Fame Award recipients and their fascinating biographies are profiled on the OHEIB website. This year, the award goes to Judi Kingry.
Judi Kingry grew up as a western Kansas farm girl and was very active in 4-H. She wanted to study journalism at Kansas State University but first had to convince her Mother that attending university would be productive. The solution was a double degree program - Journalism and Home Economics - financed in part by the sale of her prize-winning 4-H beef and sheep. At K-State, Judi's first mentor, a former Florida daily food editor, urged her female journalists to develop an expertise in a field to allow them to write intelligently. In 1965 Judi received her Bachelors degree in Journalism and Home Economics with minors in sociology and foods.
Her first job was women's editor for the Greeley (Colorado) Daily Tribune where she wrote everything from food to society news and play reviews.
After two years and ready to change gears, she was offered a Public Relations position in the Grocery Division of Minneapolis-based Pillsbury. The PR department managed Pillsbury's annual Bake-Off contests. During Judi's tenure, the contests were staged in Dallas, Atlanta, San Diego and Honolulu. Contest management covered travel, three days lodging and entertainment for 100 contestants, 100 media, 100 trade guests plus all related press activities. Beyond the Bake-Off, Judi promoted grocery products via press releases and media tours, at times spending more time on the road than at home.
In that era, Pillsbury and Duncan Hines were battling to dominate the cake mix business with each introducing new technology and formats such as bundt cakes. In conjunction with this effort, Judi arrived in Canada on the 1969 Victoria Day weekend - the start of her love affair with Canada. She had arranged with Jane Hope to bake bundt cakes in the Consumer Gas kitchens on our holiday Monday. After delivering these cakes and press releases to Toronto media, she and her cakes boarded a plane to visit media across Canada.
Back in Minneapolis, Judi was transferred to Pillsbury's international division traveling to Venezuela, Mexico and most Canadian provinces. She ran three scaled down Bake-Off contests in Canada each featuring 10 refrigerated dough recipes. The “Canadian Bake-off” was staged at Consumers Gas with an awards dinner at the Sutton Place. During these events, Judi lived in Canada for six-month stints.
As a member of Pillsbury's international team, Judi moved to Brighton, England for a year to launch Pillsbury refrigerated products there. She travelled throughout England, speaking to media and training sales staff. Returning to live in Minneapolis, she traveled to Germany to assist with the introduction of refrigerated dough in that country. Returning from Europe, Judi decided her career was stagnant and landed a job with Miles Laboratory in Indiana. Her Pillsbury mentors however thought that she would be better off staying with Pillsbury. One promised Judi a new position within Pillsbury that would give her a challenge. The challenge turned out to be new products manager for Pillsbury Canada. One more trip to France with Pillsbury International followed, but this time Judi moved to Canada as a landed immigrant.
Judi met Tom Kingry in 1965 when they both worked at the same newspaper in Colorado. For the next decade, their career locations were rarely closer than 1,000 miles and frequently spanned an ocean. They eventually were married in l975 in Pensacola, Florida. Tom moved to Canada six months later. Their son Joseph was born in 1978.
Judi returned to Pillsbury when Joseph was 4 months old. However, Pillsbury kept moving north from Yonge-Eglinton while Judi and family became established in their Oakville home. When Joseph turned two years old, Judi left the corporate world to begin freelancing.
As a food industry marketing and communications consultant, she operated Kingry Communications for 13 years. Among others, her clients included Nabisco, Kraft, Lipton, The Tea Council, Highliner and Bernardin. She also edited magazines for the Oshawa Food Group and K-Mart and co-authored “Choice Cooking” for the Canadian Diabetic Association.
Bernardin offered Judi full time employment. She said no twice, but when Tom retired she decided that two of them at home every day was not a great idea -yet. Judi officially started with Bernardin in 1995 as their marketing manager. And as they say “the rest is history.”
Judi co-authored the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. The book has become the official “bible” of home canning for thousands of Canadians. The book has includes step-by step instructions and all the details you need to preserve food safety.
Looking back, Judi recognized the importance and tremendous impact mentors played in her career. She realized she could never pay them back for all their help but could give to others coming up in the industry. She felt compelled to mentor new home economists and felt mentoring - seeing young people blossom - a wonderful reward in itself.
Judi has been a colleague, friend and an invaluable mentor to me. Congratulations Judi! Well done, and well deserved!
From Lauren Devine, Judi's co-author of Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving
“Judy's passion and integrity is something for all of us to strive for in our own character. She unselfishly acted as a mentor to me for several years, and I am eternally grateful for the world of knowledge she has passed along. I cherish Judy as a colleague and a friend. She has been, and will continue to be, missed here at Jarden Home Brands.”