Katherine Smith Judkins Camp, age 98, of Louisville, Kentucky and Savannah, Georgia, died on November 16, 2025 in Savannah at The Marshes of Skidaway Island.  Kitty, as everyone knew her, was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 28, 1927, the first child of Katherine Thomas and Dr. T. Cook Smith. She attended her beloved Louisville Collegiate School and graduated from Vassar College in 1948 where she met her best friend and soon to be sister-in-law, Esther Burke Judkins.

 

After graduating from college, she married and lived with her husband, Holland B. Judkins, Jr, in Savannah where she worked in the personnel office at Union Camp. Over the childrearing years, she worked at the Historic Savannah Foundation, was president of the Junior League of Savannah, and later worked at Savannah Country Day School’s development office.  Her volunteer work included working at Bethesda Boys’ Home, The Crittenton Home, St. Thomas Church, and the Speech and Hearing Center. A little-known fact about Kitty is that as part of her passion for Historic Savannah, she wrote and developed the first tour on tape of the city. She also loved belonging to The Garden Club of America in Savannah and Augusta, Georgia. 

 

In 1973, she married Robert C. Norman who brought her to Augusta. There they lived a busy life entertaining and traveling. Kitty had a warm relationship with Bob’s four adult children, Diane, Mary, Bob, Jr., and Laura.

 

Kitty’s last love and one of her firsts, William Hoke Camp, Jr. reunited with Kitty when they were in their 80s. They married, and once again Kitty was whisked away from Savannah and back to her hometown of Louisville, Ky where they lived the next 11 years. One of Kitty’s highlights in moving back to Kentucky with Hoke was meeting and loving his daughter, Laurie Camp Vieth as well Hoke’s sons, Henry and Jim.

 

Kitty loved a competitive tennis game, delving into her genealogy, cooking fabulous meals, and swimming in Squam Lake, New Hampshire where she spent many summers with family.  She was known for her intelligence (her vocabulary and correct grammar usage especially), love of nature, being the “hostess with the mostest” and giving her children their best life. She baked bread, made her children delightful Halloween costumes, loved gardening, and read voraciously. 

 

She is survived by her three children, Holland B. Judkins, III, (Peggy) of Savannah, Carter Judkins, of Dover, New Hampsire, and Katherine Judkins Downs, (Bertis) of Athens, Georgia, whose father was Holland B. Judkins, deceased.  Kitty is preceded in death by her beloved husband, William Hoke Camp, Jr. and her younger brother, Thomas Cook Smith, Jr.  She is survived by her sister, Jane Smith Clark, of Asheville, North Carolina. Her grandchildren are Holland and Henry Judkins, Benjamin and Lindsey Frehner, Bria and Vaughan Coder, Daniel Frehner, and Addie and Eliza Downs. She is also survived by two great grandchildren, Riley Frehner and Artemis Coder. 

 

A private memorial service will be held.

 

Memorial gifts are welcomed at Home of the Innocents, Louisville: www.homeoftheinnocents.orghttps://www.myhsf.org/donate/

 

And Historic Savannah Foundation: https://www.myhsf.org/donate/