Starting this summer, every visitor to Worcester State’s campus will be able to enjoy a magnificent, one-of-a-kind stained glass artwork recently created by Worcester State alumna Judy Roy ’64, M.S. ’67.
The 24 x 32 in. stained glass of the Helen Shaughnessy Administration building was gifted to the university during the Class of 1964 Reunion Celebration in April. To showcase the artwork, President Barry Maloney decided it should be displayed in the University’s new Admissions Welcome Center on the first floor of the Administration Building, the first stop for thousands of campus visitors each year.
“This beautiful stained glass will forever be a part of the university’s history,” said President Maloney, who accepted the gift. “As we head into our 150-year anniversary, we are proud to display this prominently for all to admire, and we celebrate the story of its creation by alumna Judy Roy, a talented artist and dedicated educator.”
Roy was a student at Worcester State during a key chapter of university history. She was accepted to Worcester State Teachers College, and then, while she was a student, the school was renamed Worcester State College. All of her classes were held in what is now the Helen Shaughnessy Administration Building.
Judy Roy spent well over 300 hours working on the stained glass rendering of the Helen Shaughnessy Administration Building.
“That’s where all my memories are, that building,” Roy said.
A career educator in Worcester Public Schools, Roy taught grades one through six, served as a reading resource teacher helping teachers hone their skills, and then was a principal for 14 years.
“I started teaching at Roosevelt and taught my whole career in Worcester,” Roy said. “One of the strengths I always felt about teaching in Worcester is that I could go to all kinds of different schools with different challenges and stay within the system.”
Even as her career had her moving from school to school, art was always part of her life. “My talents were recognized very early on because when I was a student in the fourth grade, I was taking classes at the Worcester Art Museum and painting, and I had my picture in the newspaper.”
Today, she has a full art studio in her home, including a pottery wheel and kiln. She has dabbled in just about every art form—from painting to stained glass to pottery. As the pandemic was starting, Roy, then in her 70s and retired, returned to Worcester State to earn a second bachelor’s degree in visual and performing arts with a concentration in art.
In 2020, Roy was among 17 students selected for a grant from the Worcester State Foundation. Judy’s award was used to fund her senior capstone project of this stained glass rendering of the administration building for her 2020 art degree. Having a home art studio enabled her to work on the stained glass during the pandemic when the world had shut down.
The stained glass was not her first, but it is her best, Roy said. It took well over 300 hours and about 10 months to produce—with sketching, numerous two-hour round-trip drives to buy supplies, cutting, grinding, and soldering.
“I kept track just out of curiosity, and I stopped counting at 340 hours of time,” Roy said. “That’s from the beginning of when the whole process started with the beginning sketches. I have a feeling of satisfaction knowing there will never be another stained glass of the administration building because it’s just too tedious.”
Roy has been an active alumna since she earned her first bachelor’s degree in 1964. Over the years, she has been involved with planning class reunions and has brought her artistic flare to her alumni volunteerism. The reunion committee took over Roy’s garage for the planning of their 45th reunion, for which they recreated their 1963 prom. She even hauled the prom scenery panels from her house to campus for the prom reunion event.
She also created a three-CD photographic history of the university for the university’s 140th celebration in 2015. She has served on the Alumni Association’s Reach Out committee to engage with alumni. In years past, four of Roy’s paintings were selected by the university to be the official birthday greeting card sent to alumni 80 years and older, and three of her art pieces have been showcased at the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery.
Top photo: President Barry Maloney accepts the stained glass artwork from alumna Judy Roy during her class reunion this spring. Photos by Matt Wright ’10.
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