Friends Together mourns loss of founder Judy Burns

Judy Burns
ALPENA — Friends Together shares the sad news of the passing of their organization’s founder and former executive director, Judy Burns.
Burns started the nonprofit cancer support organization, Friends Together, in 1996 following her oldest daughter’s death from colon cancer. Burns and her family had looked for support during their daughter Dawn’s cancer journey. While the family found reputable medical care, they could not find people to talk to who understood what they were experiencing and found little to no support or help for patients and loved ones in the region.
Before Dawn passed away in 1995, Judy Burns had promised her daughter that no one would face cancer alone as they did. With the founding of Friends Together, she fulfilled that promise and made it her life’s mission to be present for others going through the cancer journey. Even after her retirement in 2024, Burns remained a presence at Friends Together as a support group facilitator until January of 2025.
In her almost three decades at the helm of the nonprofit, Judy Burns impacted the lives of thousands of cancer patients and their family members throughout Northeast Michigan.
Friends Together’s office will be closed and all support groups and activities are cancelled on Monday, May 19 to allow those she worked with and those she supported to attend Judy’s funeral. The Friends Together office will remain closed on Tuesday, May 20 as the group’s staff mourns, but scheduled support groups and activities will resume.
See the full obituary here: https://www.thealpenanews.com/obituaries/2025/05/judy-ann-burns/.