D iPERNA JUDITH Age 72, of Brackenridge, died on Friday morning, February 12, 2016. Judith was born and raised in Brackenridge, best known locally as the owner, proprietor and expansive storyteller of Judy's Town News, a convenience store and meeting place a few paces from Allegheny Ludlum's No. 2 Gate. At the age of 42, Judith charged headlong into a new phase of life when she enrolled at Chatham College, where she earned her undergraduate degree. Thereafter, she obtained her M.S.Ed. from Duquesne University and went to work in Pittsburgh as a clinical therapist. An advocate and friend to marginalized populations, she went to work for Persad Center, a non-profit servicing the gay, lesbian and transgendered community. Born with a seemingly infinite reserve of compassion, she also facilitated the AIDS-HIV support group through the Shepherd Wellness Community for many years. A lifelong lover of the performing arts, Judith spent her last years working as a house manager for City Theatre in Pittsburgh's South Side, as she continued counseling many transgendered clients in her private practice. She was predeceased by her brothers, Victor and Brendan DiPerna; her parents, Anthony and Vera DiPerna; her cherished grandmother, Maria Petracco; and her niece, Dana DiPerna Pillsbury. She leaves behind her daughter, Jody DiPerna and her wife, Linda Dukess; her beloved niece, Amy DiPerna Sutton, and her husband, Charles; her brother, Dennis DiPerna and his wife, Kim; her loving cousins, Cynthia Adams, Lydia Petracco, Linda and Bob Buchko, Peter and Randi Petracco; and too many friends to count. Visitation Saturday from 4-6 p.m. and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. in the CICHOLSKI - ZIDEK FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1522 Carlisle St., Natrona Heights. Mass of Christian Burial Monday at 10:30 a.m. in St. Ladislaus Church, Natrona. Please visit www.cicholski-zidekfuneral home.com. In lieu of flowers, it was Judith's wish that donations be made to the National Center for Transgender Equality (www.transequality.org). Send condolences post-gazette.com/gb
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