Judith Lawrence

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 Australia and came to Canada at age 22, earning her living as a kindergarten teacher.

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 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 of Women (NAC). She continued her peace and feminist views through newspapers like Broadside. Her work brought her the Order of Canada. Lawrence returned 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.