Judith A. Lawrence CM is a Canadian puppeteer associated with the long-running CBC children's television program '' Mr. Dressup''. Her best known characters were Casey and Finnegan, although she also created other occasional characters, such as Aunt Bird and Alligator Al. Judith was born in Bairnsdale, Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and grew up in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, Victoria,

. She came to Canada at age 22, earning her living as a kindergarten teacher. She taught at

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in Deep River, Ontario. After a successful audition, Lawrence started work for the CBC, where she soon created her most famous puppet characters for the '' Butternut Square'' TV series and they made the transition to ''Mr. Dressup''. Lawrence retired as the puppeteer of the show in 1989. Lawrence also wrote many books in ''The Young Canada Reading Series'' for Thomas Nelson publishers. Lawrence co-authored a series of books for

D.C. Heath Daniel Collamore Heath (1843–1908) was the founder of D. C. Heath and Company, part of Houghton Mifflin. Biography Daniel C. Heath was born in Salem, Maine on October 26, 1843. He studied at Nichols Latin School and Bates College (then calle ...

on women and work. In the 1960s she co-founded The Voice of Women. In the 1970s she was on the first National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC). She continued her peace and feminist views through newspapers like ''Broadside''. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 2001 for her work as both a puppeteer and an activist. After retiring, Lawrence moved from Toronto to Hornby Island, British Columbia where she became a strong community leader for the island, a designer of the recycling depot, and a farmer/environmentalist.

References

Canadian puppeteers Australian expatriates in Canada People from the Comox Valley Regional District Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Members of the Order of Canada {{Canada-tv-bio-stub