Julia Anne Taylor Troyer

June 22, 1955 - September 11, 2019

Julia Anne Taylor was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma. She and her little sister, Lisa Kay Taylor Ferguson of Guthrie, were both adopted at birth by Doin and Betty Taylor, lifetime residents of Guthrie. Doin, a veteran of World War II, owned and operated “Doin’s Cafe” for several years. As a teenager, Julie worked at the cafe for her daddy as a waitress. Her mother worked at the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oklahoma office right across the street from the cafe. Both of Julie’s parents, and “Papa” Jack Bernier, her step father, pre-deceased Julie.

Julie met her Lord and was baptized at the age of nine. Attending church and being active in the youth group and choir at the First Baptist Church was a big part of her time as a youth. She and her friends attended Guthrie schools, many of whom spent all 12 years together. She was a twirler and played the clarinet in the band through her junior high and high school years, and enjoyed her horse, Ringo. At age 17, Julie culminated five years of service in Rainbow in the honored position of Worthy Advisor.

In the late afternoon of August 19, 1968, a tall, beautiful girl with long, flowing dark hair caught my eye from a distance in my hometown of Hennessey, OK. She was amidst a group of a couple of hundred teenagers attending an area-wide “tent” revival on “youth night”. I met her later that evening and discovered three things: her name was Julie, a name I adored but I had never before met such a girl… she was from Guthrie, a small city to me… and she had just turned 13 ! (I was 16 1/2).

Later we would see each other at monthly associational church youth “rallies” at the different towns in our area. Almost a year after meeting, her parents allowed me to take Julie on our first date on her 14th birthday.

Julie “followed” me to Oklahoma State University where she majored in Elementary Education, marched in the Cowboy Band, and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and the Arnold Air Society “Angel Flight”. During the summers of her college years, Julie managed and lifeguarded at the municipal swimming pool in my hometown of Hennessey. In her senior year, which included a very heavy class load her last semester, Julie achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Julie and I were married at her church in Guthrie on June 25, 1977… one month after she graduated from O.S.U. We left town that night, headed for Tucson, Arizona where I was to begin my first Air Force assignment at Davis-Monthan A.F.B. Julie taught at the base preschool during our 2 1/2 years there. Her “kids” loved her.

Our next assignments took us to Texas, California, Nebraska, Indiana, and back to Nebraska. We lived a total of 17 years in Papillion, NE. Our church homes in Nebraska were the highlight of our spiritual lives. I was so proud of Julie as she expertly planned and supervised one summer’s Vacation Bible School session.

Julie gave us three wonderful children… Lindsey Michelle Swartz, now of Guthrie; Justin Taylor Troyer of Newnan, GA; and Casey Alexander Troyer of Newnan, GA. I believe her “crown jewel” of accomplishments was home schooling our two oldest children. She was an incredible mother and teacher.

In 2000, after our two oldest had graduated from high school, we moved to Newnan, Georgia, close to Atlanta where I pursued my civilian job. Julie substitute taught at the Christian school Casey attended, and during one school year, she was basically full time, teaching 4th and 5th graders.

One of Julie’s favorite activities, particularly through our years in Nebraska, was pursuing her little home based business as a Longaberger Baskets consultant. She accumulated a great assortment of baskets of her own, but more importantly… a great number of good friends, and had loads of fun.

Probably her very favorite endeavor was loving our 8 grandchildren with whom the kids blessed us. They all adored her. Our 9th and newest grand baby will have to wait to meet her.

Our “vacation” time usually involved traveling to visit our children and grandchildren, other family and close friends for holidays and other special occasions. Road trips to and from my new Air Force assignments turned into mini-vacations, and we saw a good bit of the United States. Also, we made a few enjoyable trips to England, as well as a very memorable 20th wedding anniversary when we flew to New York and saw the stage production, “Oklahoma” on Broadway.

In early 2013 at the age of 57, Julie was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia. It affected her short term memory and rapidly took her ability to engage in verbal conversation. During the remainder of that year, we paid tribute to Julie at two special events: her birthday in June, and her 40th class reunion in October. Both events were of course in Guthrie, and were very profound to Julie. I am still so grateful to all our family and friends who attended and made her feel so very special.

Her illness continued to progress, and eventually Julie was only able to say “Yes”, “No” and “I love you”. She could still “talk”… with her smile, her eyes, her hugs, her gestures, her dancing. Julie remained “Julie”…. the same incredibly sweet girl she had always been… except more and more subdued as the months and years wore on. On August 19, 2018, Julie and I celebrated half a century of knowing each other.

We took care of Julie in our home for the entire 7 years of her affliction. I give tribute to our younger son Casey who cared for his mother during the first two years, allowing me to continue to go to work. After that, we were blessed with professional care.

Julie ate well and slept well throughout the vast majority of her illness. But as was predicted… she progressively “forgot” how to eat and drink. It became critical in early September, 2019.

In the very late hours of September 10, as I sat with our sons by her bed, Julie began to calmly and courageously work through her last minutes of life on this planet. At 12:30 am, September 11, my Julie very peacefully took her last three breaths… and stepped through the veil to be with her Savior.

What is Julie’s legacy? That’s simple…. Love. I am convinced this girl was an “incarnate angel”… one of God’s very best… sent on a special mission to reflect His Love… to teach us.

Julie was the most loving, pure, gentle, kind, forgiving, patient, even-tempered, empathetic, honest, selfless, dependable, loyal, tolerant, tactful, non-judgmental, humble, fun-loving and silly creatures I have ever been blessed with in this life. She has gently touched countless souls with her angelic ways….

To me, Julie was the closest thing to perfection that I have ever experienced. She taught me so much. I know perfection is completely out of reach for me as it is for us all…. but I am a much better person because of her near perfect love. I am humbled and privileged that God chose me to escort His child along her journey.

It was my intent to celebrate this precious girl in 2020… but the danger and frustration of the pandemic interrupted those plans… and the future is still uncertain. Someday, however, hopefully next spring, we will indeed celebrate her in Oklahoma.

Julie’s ashes will eventually be laid at the cemetery in Hennessey.

Upon being honored as Worthy Advisor in Rainbow as a teenager, Julie chose “Love and Friendship” as the theme for her term. “They are the two things that have been very important to me….”, she wrote. As it turned out, she consistently held true to that theme her entire life. Within the pages of her King James, Julie has highlighted the entire chapter of 1st Corinthians 13. In particular, verse 13 at the end: “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

I miss my “JulieBear”. The world isn’t right without her… but I will dance with her again.

Tim Troyer

Newnan, Georgia