Judith Yates died last year, aged 51. Judith was born in Gloucestershire and attended the local primary school in her home village of Wick and the Colston Girls Grammar School in Bristol. She entered University College Dental School in 1969 and between the preclinical and clinical years gained an Honours degree in physiology. After graduating BDS in 1975, she began her career, first as a House Officer at UCH then she joined the community dental service in Highgate where she discovered her love for children's dentistry. A Senior House Officer’s job at Great Ormond Street Hospital followed. She passed the FDS RCS (Eng) and was then appointed lecturer for seven years in the Children’s Department at the Royal Dental Hospital unit until 1985 when the hospital merged with Guy's. By this time she was married with two children of her own and had built up a specialist clinic for children with fractures to immature teeth. This trauma clinic transferred with her to Guy’s and she published papers both on tooth fracture and on use of Valium for children. After a few years as senior lecturer at Guy’s and while working on her PhD she was struck down with rheumatoid arthritis. She was totally incapacitated for months, but despite this, continued to bring up the children and run her home. She returned to work part-time briefly, then suffered ME and latterly cancer. She had to give up dentistry in 1992 in order to cope with her illness, then embarked on a new career as a counsellor and lay pastor in a local United Reformed Church. She completed her training and was able to serve in the High Wycombe area URC until she entered the hospice in November 2002. Her loving personality is greatly missed in the church community. Her gifts with children, her musical ability, her quiet humour and immense administrative skills were all put at their disposal. She is greatly missed by her husband Alan, daughter Ruth (20), son Matthew (16) and her friends both from dentistry and the wider community.