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After graduating from another high school, Judi attended
the Utica (New York) School of Commerce.
By 1960, at age 20, Judi was managing a company in
Orlando, Florida, and working in fundraising events
when she met Dan, co-founder of Roberts and Gilman
Real Estate. They began working together, building the
real estate business to 17 offices. “One morning, Dan
called me and said to pack a bag and meet him at the
airport,” said Judi. “He flew his Beechcraft Bonanza up
to Georgia, and we got married in Kingsland.”
“If I could choose to share the most
shocking story of my life, it would be
that I survived.”
When economic clouds began to gather in the early
’70s, Judi and Dan left the real estate business to pursue
a life on the water aboard their 40-foot Newporter Ketch,
Capricorn. I asked Judi if she would share an interesting
story, to which she replied: “If I could choose to share the
most shocking story of my life, it would be that I survived.
One moonlit night in the Exumas, we were thrown out of
our rubber Zodiac in Salt Pond Bay. The dinghy turned in
a circle, and the propeller sliced Dan in the face, cutting
under his eye and removing teeth. He pushed me down
just before the boat hit, and on the second pass, it struck
him again, cutting his leg and hand.
“The tide was going out at 4 knots, taking us into open
water. We couldn’t swim against it. Dan grabbed for the
last possible chance of salvation. A native sailing sloop
was anchored just outside the harbor, and a sail dangled
down off the long boom into the water. He caught hold
of the canvas with his left hand, and as I drifted close,
he got my hand. We hung there, him bleeding and me
screaming for help.
“Every night, we saw sharks in that harbor, and they were
big sharks. The crawfish boats cleaned and dumped their
tanks there when returning after weeks of fishing, so no
one would swim there. Finally, we were heard by one
man on a schooner who, in his tiny rowing dingy, came
to our rescue.
“The natives on shore refused to touch Dan, saying
he was a ‘dead mon.’ We wrapped his T-shirt around
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