Judy Love, the co-founder of Love’s Travel Stops, died on Tuesday in Oklahoma City. She was 87.
Love founded the travel stop alongside her husband, Tom, in 1964 with a $5,000 loan. Together, they grew the company into an empire of more than 640 locations across 42 states. Love is also remembered for her philanthropic spirit, including support of education, health care and community development.
The company announced Love’s death, remembering her as a financial leader for the company. She served as the company’s secretary and treasurer.
“Our mother, Judy Love, was the heart and soul of our family,” the Love family said in a statement. “She cared deeply for us and those who worked alongside her and Dad. Her tenacity, strength and focus will guide us forever. She taught us the importance of hard work, honesty and the joy of giving back. While we will miss her dearly, her spirit will live on through the countless lives she touched.”
Love was born in Chicago to parents Ed and Ruth McCarthy. The family relocated to Oklahoma City in 1942, where she graduated from Bishop McGuinness High School and Central Catholic High School.
She met her husband while attending Oklahoma State University in 1956. The two wed on Dec. 26, 1960.
The couple leased an abandoned service station in Watonga, Oklahoma, in 1964, which grew to 40 stores in eight years. Thus, Love’s Family of Companies was born.
Love handled the company’s finances. In 1975, she took a break from the company to pursue interior design. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Central Oklahoma in 1981 and obtained a master’s degree before establishing a design firm.
She was a passionate philanthropist and established the Love Family Affiliated Fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in 1999 and the Tom and Judy Love Foundation in 2013.
Love co-chaired the fundraising campaign to build the Love Family Women’s Center at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City alongside former Oklahoma First Lady Cathy Keating, who remembered Love as leading a life of “courage, determination and humility.”
She served on 11 nonprofit boards and led 14 major fundraisers, including for Positive Tomorrows, Oklahoma’s school for homeless children.
Love received more than 30 awards for her philanthropic work, including being honored as Oklahoma Mother of the Year by American Mothers in 2020, being inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2010, and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Distinguished Woman Award from Oklahoma City University.
“Judy Love was an extraordinary woman with a huge heart for others and an inexhaustible joy of life,” close friend Jane Jayroe-Gamble said in a statement. “Her passion for family, friends, community and the Catholic church inspired many. Judy and Tom were a partnership made in heaven, and their successful business reflects their hard work, dedication and generosity. As we mourn her loss, let’s celebrate her remarkable life, positive spirit, gifts of encouragement and significant impact on our world.”
Love is survived by her children Greg, Laura, Jenny and Frank, as well as her nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
