Ms. Judy Juvene Evans

February 22, 1942 - July 21, 2020

Ms. Judy Juvene Evans, 78, of 1050 Petersburg Rd., Elberton, Georgia, finished her course in faith on July 21, 2020 at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital. Ms. Evans was born in Elbert County on February 22, 1942, daughter of the late Milford E. and Katie Blair Fleming. She was of the Baptist faith. Survivors include her brother, Butch Fleming (Wanda); sister, Libby Thornton; and niece, Kellie Smith (Bart), all of Elberton; and two nephews: Sandy Thornton (Valerie) of Elberton, and Justin Fleming of Virginia. She is also survived by three children who loved her dearly: Nathan Thornton, Rylee and Broughton Smith, all of Elberton. She also leaves behind her dearest friend, Dr. Anne Patterson of Atlanta. Judy Evans was recruited to come to Emory University from the Cardiology Department of what was then Charlotte Memorial Hospital, now Atrium Health Care. She was recruited specifically by Dr. Charles Hatcher, the head of Cardiovascular Surgery at Emory and Vice President of the Medical Center. Judy not only knew the current state of cardiovascular surgery and research she was skilled in writing sophisticated computer code and data bases that could detail the types of problems that patients had as well as track their interventions and outcomes. In approximately 1975 she returned to Atlanta to start this ambitious project. Something that had never been done before. This would be a registry that would monitor and track the long-term health and outcomes of cardiac patients that came to Emory University. The office was known as the Cardiac Data Bank. The outcome of this work generated numerous scientific papers but most importantly it significantly improved the response times from heart attack treatment and continues to promote accountability in the use of new technology and therapies today. This work did not stop at Emory since many of the Cardiology fellows had to input data and work with Judy as they gather information to present at conferences and in scientific journals. These physicians took this idea back to other universities and other countries. One former fellow returned to Canada and started a similar program in one province, and it is now a national data bank that follows what Judy devised at Emory. He subsequently was awarded the Order of Canada for his work. Needless to say, her work in this area of Cardiology has been far reaching. After seeing that this was working well, Judy was asked to start another Cardiac endeavor at Emory. In 1987 she was asked to start the Children’s Heart Center jointly with Egelston Hospital. Working with Dr. Ken Dooley, they began a program of statewide outreach to provide Cardiology care to children across the state. Today this program is known as the Sibley Heart Center and with more than 50 pediatric Cardiologist in more than 20 locations across the state. The Sibley Heart Center always had cardiac surgery available to children from the onset and now can provide transplants if needed. To begin and then ramp up a program of this magnitude took foresight, management skills and the ability to overseen numerous physicians as well as the required support staff to facilitate this type of operation. Judy provided these skills to see that the Children’s Heart Center did well from the onset. Judy worked for Coldwell Banker in Atlanta, Georgia for many years after leaving Emory’s HealthCare System. There will be a Celebration of Life for Judy in October and will be announced at a later date. For those that knew her was to love her! Hicks Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Elberton was respectfully in charge of the arrangements for Ms. Judy Juvene Evans.