Ed & Judy Graves
Inducted: 2022

JUDY GRAVES

    Judy is best known for her knowledge of finance since she served as Chief Financial Officer for the St. Louis Art Museum’s millions of dollars. Her knowledge of Not for Profit rules and regulations prepared her for work in the ABC as well.

    She served as Final Futurity Forfeit Secretary for the ABC from 2007 until January of 2014 and has continued from 2014 to work with the Futurity Committee and the ABC Treasurer to assist with the financial affairs and payouts of the Futurity.

    During the yearlong illness of former Treasurer, Janet Chase, Judy drove back and forth from her home in Missouri to Janet’s home in Illinois helping her with the ABC finances. She basically took over the job and continued until a new Treasurer was found While serving as Treasurer, she established the first ever budget process for the ABC which set us on a path to insure funds were sufficient to keep the club solvent in case of lean time such as we experienced during the Covid-19 shutdowns.

    Judy was instrumental in forming a group of ABC members to create a 501c3, NFP Foundation for the American Brittany Club that will benefit the club long term. She has served as Chair of the ABC Financial Committee since its inception overseeing the financials of the club. We often forget that, without the daily work of club members, we would not be able to do the other activities we so enjoy.

    On a regional level, Judy has served as field trial secretary for decades for the Southern Illinois Brittany Club, the Illinois Brittany Club, the Mid-South Brittany Championship and currently the Illinois Brittany Championship. Her duties don’t stop there as she also cooks most of the meals for those field trials and has during the last decade along with scouting for Ed and his dogs.

    Judy served as Executor of the Estate of Janet & Jim Chase, directing thousands of dollars for grounds improvements through the Friends of Pyramid for development of the Pyramid field trial grounds and donations to the Brittany Endowment Fund, part of the Bird Dog Foundation in Grand Junction, TN.

    She is an associate member of the Field Trial Clubs of Illinois and a recipient of their Honor Roll for Distinguished Members. She and Ed served on Senator Schimp’s Task Force working to improve Pyramid State Park. She also serves on the ABC Magazine Committee, and worked to establish a procedure for local clubs to host Agility events via the AKC licenses granted to the ABC.

    ED GRAVES

    Ed got off to a winning start in Brittanys back in the 1980s and continues today. It is impossible to count the hours of physical work he has put into the Rend Lake grounds and more so in the last decade to the Pyramid Field Trial Grounds in Illinois, making trips back and forth from home. Ed has worked with others to oversee the development of a large barn, two different club houses and outdoor venue, bird house and an additional parking area for trailers with electrical hookups. He is sure to be the first to arrive at the trial and the last to pull away only to come back and finish with cleanup of grounds, barn and club house.

    Besides the above jobs that make field trials a success and being head Bird Planter, he serves as President of the Illinois Brittany Club and Field Trial Chair and is a Director of the Illinois Championship Association. He was instrumental in bringing the Mid-South Championship to Southern Illinois, originally run in Arkansas and then with the Southern Illinois Club, and now in conjunction with the Illinois Spring trial.

    On a National level, Ed served as 1st Vice President and National Field Trial Chair in 1995 and 1996 and has been a continual supporter of the National Championship with several dogs placing in it. His FC/AFC Mr. Buddy Boy was Runner-Up Champion in both the Open and Amateur Championships in 1994. That along with several other placements earned Buddy Boy the Purina Dog of the year award. Ed served the ABC from April 2006 until just recently as the Central Dates Coordinator. Ed is also an associate member of the Field Trial Clubs of Illinois and has received their Honor Roll Award for Distinguished Members.

    Ed and Judy have worked as a team over 35 years and continue today. He could count on her to scout when running a dog. They also worked together to serve on a 2 year Task Force sponsored by Senator Paul Schimpf and Southern Illinois University to develop a strategic plan for improvement of Pyramid State Recreation Area and to make sure that the Field Trial Community was duly mentioned and protected among the many other interests also using the park. They have also given financial support to both local projects at Pyramid and the Bird Dog Foundation. During their time in Brittanys, Ed and Judy have bred an occasional litter and reached out to new people to come and enjoy our sport as well. They are licensed AKC field trial judges and still campaign and support trials in the East Central, Central and Midwest Regions.