This tribute to Judy Rice was written by her niece Karen Ashburner:

Judy Eugenia Rice Norcia passed away, peacefully, at 2:15 p.m., July 9th, 2014, in Tampa, Florida, after an 18 month battle with breast cancer, just four days shy of her 64th birthday. If you felt an unexplainable love and comfort in your heart that day, it was undoubtedly her.

At her passing, Judy was surrounded by: her husband, Michael; her three sons, Ken, Mike, and Andy; daughters-in-law Rosa Santana and Dee Dee Layden Norcia; her sister, Marty Rice; her great-niece, Libby Miller; special family who there in spirit and thought, niece, Karen Rowe Ashburner, and great-niece, Audrey Leigh Ashburner; her minister, her faith, her God; and her loving, devoted friends. Judy is further survived by a large and loving extended family still living in Alabama, including her Turner cousins, whom she adored and cherished, as well as her Norcia family in Rhode Island and Connecticut, who treated her with a great love and respect and cared for her dearly.

Judy was a May 1968 graduate of Tuscaloosa High School, and a 1972 graduate of the University of Alabama where she received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. She was extremely proud of having been born and raised in Alabama, and of growing up on Homewood Drive in Tuscaloosa, just a few blocks from the University of Alabama. In the year preceding her death, Judy was involved in planning the 45th reunion of her high school class, and attended numerous televised Alabama football games with The Tampa Bay Crimson Tide club.

Judy led a life of service as Vice President of Quality Systems at Florida Blood Services for nearly thirty years. She ended her long career as a quality assurance and regulatory affairs auditor for SCC. Judy worked hard her entire life, and took great pride in providing quality control for life-saving blood donations.

Judy enjoyed summer trips to Busch Gardens, drinking fine wine, listening to smooth jazz, visiting with family, and attending church every Sunday at East Lake United Methodist in Palm Harbor, Florida. She was so very proud to have been an alumni of the University of Alabama, that the license plate on her car read: R-Tide-R.

Over the course of her courageous 18 month battle, Judy lived a full and fulfilled life. She worked and planned and loved, right until the last few days of her life. She will always be an inspiration to those who knew her by her dedication to her spirituality, her faith, and her love for her family. These were the touchstones of her life. Judy's mantra in life was to show up, to be present for those she loved. Birthdays, graduations, marriages, births, deaths: she always put on her make-up, her best dress, and showed up. If she couldn't show up in person, she sent a card, and/or a present, made a phone call and always, always...a "thank you" note.

In memory of Judy, her family asks that you live your life, what remains of it, to the fullest, as did Judy. And not just live your life, but love it. Love the people in your life. Live hard; sleep long. Hold each other. Take trips to far off lands; stay home and rest when your bones are weary. Kiss each other. Hug. Be the first to offer a hug; be the last to let go of a hug. Go to football games and cheer loudly. Wear ridiculous t-shirts and sweaters emblazoned with the image of your Alma mater; sing the fight song loudly; argue with the rebellious family member who attended the arch-rival university during "the big game," but hug them after.

Say "I love you" too much and too often. Eat good food. Exercise. Stay young at heart. Stay fit. Send "thank you" notes. Show up for funerals and marriages and birthdays. Work in a career you love and give it your heart; find something bigger than yourself to believe in and give it your heart. Find a cause. Find good music. Find good people doing good things and do good things with them. Live a life of service; live a life of peace and joy; live a life in the moment, stay in the moment. Be present in the moment. Be present for your family. Be as happy as you can be, for as long as you can be. Love your life, people. Love the people in your life. Go. Do. Be. Live. Love.

And: Roll Tide; Roll Tide; Roll, Tide, Roll.

Judy Eugenia Rice Norcia will cremated and her ashes laid to rest at the foot of the grave of her parents, Eugene Earl Rice and Mazie Louise Montgomery Rice, at Evergreen Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, directly across from the entrance to Bryant-Denny Stadium, what Judy always called, "the best seat in the house."