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After 45 years of service as a Salvation Army officer, Major Judy Ostermiller recently retired.
Judy was born in Billings, Mont., one of the six children of Florence and Jake Ostermiller. She first encountered The Salvation Army at age 16, when she was invited to Girl Guards and then became an active member at the Billings Corps.
When a group of cadets from the training school in San Francisco came to the corps on Spring Campaigns, Judy received the call to officership. After graduating from high school, she entered training in 1958 with the pioneers session. She was commissioned in 1959 and sent to assist at the Booth Memorial Hospital in Oakland, Calif. Her next assignment was to the Booth Memorial Hospital in Spokane, Wash., followed by a ten-year stay at the Door of Hope in San Diego.
In 1977 she was appointed to the women’s social service department at territorial headquarters (THQ). She then moved to the office of the chief secretary, where she served as administrative assistant for 17 years. A brief stay in the Adult