Judith Musafia passed away Feb. 1, 2025, at the age of 83. She was a flutist, music critic, food author, artist, poet, composer, essayist, and novelist. Born March 14, 1941 to Kenneth and Bernadetta “Birdie” Gross (Suydam) in Bakersfield, Judith was raised as a Methodist. She distinguished herself locally as an academic and as a flutist. At 17, Judith left Bakersfield to pursue a degree in English at California State University, Long Beach.
Judith married Julien Musafia, a Romanian-born concert pianist and professor of music at Long Beach State. She lived in Long Beach until the late 1970s. During that time, she performed as a flutist, became a music critic for the Long Beach Press Telegram, and regularly reviewed the premier classical music performances throughout the Los Angeles basin.
In 1979, she relocated to the San Luis Obispo region, where she became a music critic for the San Luis Obispo Tribune Newspaper. At the Tribune, Judith cultivated her love of cooking and writing. She established a long-running weekly column, “The $2 Gourmet,” featuring low-cost, self-inspired, healthy recipes for readers. Judith taught flute at the San Luis Obispo School of Music and gave private lessons, often as many as 30 individual flute lessons weekly. Believing students would progress more quickly if they were to play duets, she wrote a beginning flute instruction book and arranged duets for her beginning students to play with her during their lessons.
Judith considered herself first and foremost a writer. In addition to her columns and music criticism, she published essays and wrote novels. In her later years, her self-published cookbooks overflowed with beautiful, self-made pen-and-ink drawings designed to inspire the cook.
While living in Greenville, she continued to perform publicly on the flute, playing at the Greenville Methodist Church and with local musicians, as well as giving public concerts. Judith was known for her creativity and, at concerts, would ask the audience to give her three notes, and then she would improvise a composition on those notes.
While on many fronts a traditionalist, Judith was also open to schools of thought that were different from her upbringing. She trained in somatic healing and hypnotherapy, and she entertained interests involving the I Ching, astrology and Eastern medicine. Judith had an open soul, a good heart, and rarely had a negative word for anyone.
She is survived by her brother, Robert Gross (Lodi); sons Dimitri Musafia (Cremona, Italy) and Dominik Musafia (Seattle, Washington); and granddaughters Marianna Musafia, Francesca Musafia, Madalena Musafia-Corwin and Cosetta Musafia-Corwin.
