Julia passed away on January 25, 2003, in Cook County, IL, after a lengthy illness. Born in Baltimore, she grew up in Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1971 she received a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Longwood University in Farmville, VA and taught elementary school in North Carolina before following her parents to Illinois. She worked several years in the cafeteria of Ameritech's Chicago offices before teaching preschool part-time in the late 1970's at Church of the Nazarene in Mt. Prospect. She eventually substituted at elementary schools in the Mt. Prospect and Arlington Heights area until the late 1980's, and she then taught kindergarten for three years at St. Norbert's School in Northbrook. According to her husband Jeff, Julia preferred the less formal atmosphere of elementary schools to that of upper grades and hoped she could positively influence children at a young age.  In the 1990's, Julia also substituted at River Trails School District 26 and Mt. Prospect School District 57. She did private tutoring and retail work for Kohl's department store and at Gordon Food Service Marketplace in Palatine. She adopted many abandoned pets over the years and supported the Buddy Foundation, an Arlington Heights animal group. She was survived by her husband Jeff, daughter Jacqueline, son Jeremy, parents Jack and Elizabeth Bell of Arlington Heights, IL, and sister Cynthia Lange of Island Lake, IL.