‘An incredible advocate for the seniors of Evanston’

Levy Center chair Newton to be honored with 2025 Aging Well Award

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The mission of the Levy Senior Center Foundation is to help older Evanston-area residents remain active, independent and connected. The programming that helps achieve this is the result of the efforts of the Levy board members, including chair Judy Newton, who is being honored with the 2025 Aging Well Award. 

Chair of the Levy Senior Center Foundation, Judy Newton, who is being honored with the 2025 Aging Well Award.  Credit: courtesy of the Levy Senior Center Foundation

Newton’s reception of the award recognizes two decades of dedication to Evanston’s older adults. Under her leadership, the foundation introduced a wide array of free accessible programming meant to encourage active living and lifelong learning. 

Newton said she was humbled and honored to be recognized with the same award her fellow board members and mentors have won in the past, including Gerri Sizemore, Bill Logan Jr. and Ellen Butkus. 

“I’ve always looked at the award as something out there, not really tangible, and with respect,” she said. “So, when they told me that I received it, I felt like, ‘Well, my work’s just beginning,'” Newton said.

Programming offered by the foundation includes the Levy Lecture series, tickets to the Northlight Theater and Wirtz Center and free concerts. In partnership with the City of Evanston, the foundation was also able to renovate some of their facilities and courtyard. 

She said having the award is an acknowledgement of the infrastructure being built at the senior center and said that the work is just getting started. For adults 55 and older, Newton and the rest of the board remain committed to supporting seniors of different backgrounds to come together to interact, feel safe and be happy. 

In addition to building relationships with other seniors, Newton also actively promotes intergenerational connections through different initiatives. Grandparents bring their grandchildren to the Jamming Jean concerts. High school students volunteer and earn service credits and also engage in conversations through the “talking benches” program. 

“Under Judy’s guidance and leadership, the Levy Senior Center Foundation programming has grown and expanded,” board member Jill Korshak said in an email. “Her commitment to making a difference in the community is never ending. She continues to develop and implement new programs built to foster connections and ignite passions.”

Newton came to Evanston in the early 1970s and worked as a fourth and fifth grade teacher at King Lab School. After her teaching career, she was a Realtor at Coldwell Banker and then later began her career at the Levy Center as a member of the advisory board. 

Her connection to the center goes back to her grandfather Joseph Levy Sr., who with his wife Sarah started the center in 1966. Her mother, aunt and uncle all have connections there, too. With the center’s bylaws stating that a family member should be on the board, she agreed to join, not realizing how much she’d like it and the potential she saw. 

“I would say my family’s legacy to teach me to give back to others is what I am the most proud of,” Newton said. “The family started something many, many years ago that’s able to still serve the community that everybody, that we’re all involved in.” 

Newton’s broader vision for the foundation’s future includes changing stereotypes about aging, improving mobility and quality of life as people age longer and reducing isolation. She is aware of how much loneliness is an issue among older adults and believes community and joy are the solution. 

The foundation’s vice-chair Hugo Rodriguez calls Newton a very special person and praises her enthusiastic care and compassion. 

“Through her work at the Levy Senior Center, Judy dedicates many hours each week helping Seniors live with dignity, comfort and connection; and she encourages her community to engage with its older members in a caring, productive way,” Rodriguez said. “Judy is an incredible advocate for the seniors of Evanston and we are very lucky to have her.”

Newton will be presented with the 2025 award at 5 p.m., Friday, June 13 during the Jamming Jean concert at James Park, 2200 Oakton St.

Editor’s note: This story has updated to include the names of Newton’s grandparents.

By Rudy Ruiz as published in the Evanston RoundTable.

June 10th, 2025