Obituary of Judith Saul Stix

Judith Saul Stix died peacefully in the early morning of Saturday, December 13, 2025, in her residence in University City. She was unafraid and ready to move on to her next chapter. Over her more than nine decades, her life centered around ideas, intellect, and words.  Judith had numerous friends and often elevated the conversation with those around her while indulging their individual interests and personalities. She valued those relationships throughout her life.

Neither athlete nor outdoorsman, she became an accomplished birdwatcher and gardener. With her husband and other couples, she braved many multi-day canoe trips on Missouri’s beautiful Ozark rivers.  She embraced traveling, family camping, hiking, and swimming. Judith loved summer family lunches in her serene, shady backyard—at a picnic table set on pecan shells nestled under a crabapple tree.

Born Judith Bess Saul on May 26, 1932, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Abner Genzel Saul and Bernice Edith (née) Bass, she was three years older than her sister, Shelah Gershon Saul Michael. Her father and mother died in 1951 and 1952, respectively. As a child of the Great Depression, her early life was tumultuous and filled with insecurity. What liberated her was her intense intelligence, like her mother before her. For example, she was admitted to the University of Chicago at age 14 (but wisely chose not to enroll).

Judith met her future husband, Ernest William Stix, Jr., during an intermission at a performance of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1950 and they married April 24, 1953, at Ernest’s parents’ house (6470 Forsyth Boulevard, now part of Washington University).  Over the next four years they would have three children. 

She and Ernest developed a passion for acquiring eclectic décor that continued all their lives. In addition, they treasured their relationships with: local artist Bessie Cronbach Lowenhaupt (1881–1968) whom they had befriended in 1959; with botanist Thomas MacDougall, whom they met in Mexico in the 1950s; with Colombian artist Guillermo Silva Santamaria; and other unique individuals whom they encountered and cultivated.

They collected distinctive pieces of antique furniture and surrounded themselves with both Judith’s superb original needlepoint works (rugs, pictures, pillows, tapestries, belts,  eyeglass cases) and a plethora of Ernest’s found-object sculptures.

Known as Judy to her friends, she had a life-long love of books, learning, words, travel, and the arts generally. Teachers inspired and encouraged her from an early age, recognizing her innate intelligence and intellectual curiosity, which eventually led her to Washington University. As a junior, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, graduating a year later at age twenty.

Judy was a voracious reader, a habit that sustained her throughout her life.

Poetry was her vocation. Her first two published poems were award winners that appeared in an anthology of poems by Tennessee high schoolers, although she would later claim that her poetry writing began in 1956.  The many iterations that each poem went through attest to the rigorous analysis and disciplined method of working that Judith brought to her craft. 

In 2008, Ernest published Woman/Years, a four-volume, hard-bound collection containing more than 1200 of Judy’s poems. In 2024, Westgate Poetry Press published a selection of her more recent work in a single volume titled Heart like a falling leaf. 

Beyond poetry, Judy was proud of her writings generally. She wrote essays and reviews for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; eulogies, obituaries (but not this one, sorry to say), and appreciations; biographies; genealogies; travelogues; letters; and more.

Judith was predeceased by her devoted husband of nearly six decades, Ernest W. Stix, Jr., and several cherished family pets. She is survived by their three children (Susan Stix, Austin TX; Peter Stix, Albany NY; and Robert Stix (Anita Stix), Red Bank NJ), six grandchildren, and a precious two-year-old great-grandson.  

In the last years of her life, Judy continued to develop strong, close friendships. Those friends were bright, warm beacons for her in her twilight years.

Besides family life and various cultural, literary, and social interests, Judy cherished her Jewish background, Jewish traditions, and traditions generally.  She was accomplished in the kitchen, paying careful attention to the dishes and their plating.  Not infrequently when hosting company, she would daringly try out new recipes.  Fittingly, her affinity for soups and efforts to replicate her grandmother’s recipes echoed her Jewish origins.    

One of Judy’s favorite aphorisms, often quoted, was “Time is all we have and all we don’t have.”

Services will be private.

Memo to Myself

What should my poems be? I wish

my work to be conversational,

and as clear and cogent as prose;

to have rhythmic structure, balance;

to reflect the touch of feelings,

the distillations of perception;

to spring from the unknown into

the known, add something to the world.

                                                            –JSS

Donations in her memory may be made to the University City Public Library, 6701 Delmar Blvd, University City, MO 63130 where she was an engaged patron for more than 75 years, also available online at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/friendsucpl/ or to the charitable cause of your choice.