Ashley Judd Shares Her ‘Altar to Mama’ for Naomi Judd Family Memorial [Pictures]
The Judd family continues to feel conflicting emotions after Naomi Judd's death. Just one day after her death on Saturday (April 30), Wynonna and Ashley Judd were at the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony to celebrate the Judds' induction on Sunday (May 1).
Ashley Judd posted a series of photos and videos on Instagram recapping the emotional weekend. In addition to photos from the ceremony, Judd shared some personal snaps of the family's gathering in her home to honor their matriarch.
"Your outpouring is reaching me. Thank you for every thought, prayer, message, text, email, post, expression. We each are alone and we are in fellowship, broken and held, protected from nothing and sustained in everything," Ashley shares in the caption. "It’s the beginning of an old story, life and death, loss and life."
One photo shows the altar she made for her mother. The table is covered in vases of flowers and candles. In the middle is a silhouette of Naomi when she was just 11 years old.
Next is a video of Naomi's husband, Larry Strickland, singing "How Great Thou Art." Ashley describes him as "bereft" in the caption. The family had gotten together to sing hymns and lean on one another during this painful time.
Judd also shared an old family photo of herself and Wynonna with their mother on Little Cat Creek in Kentucky. After Ashley was born, Naomi divorced her husband, Michael Ciminella, and raised her daughters as a single mom. During that time, she attended nursing school before starting a successful music career with Wynonna.
Ashley concludes the post's caption with, "Be free, my beautiful mother. Be free."