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City: Biloxi, Mississippi
Club: Biloxi
Age: 67
Number of children: 2 children, 4 stepchildren, 2 granddaughters, 4 step-granddaughters, a step-grandson, and a step-great-grandson
Occupation: Retired secondary educator
Year joined Kiwanis: 1993
Current Kiwanis position: Club secretary, district chairwoman for the International Foundation
Previous Kiwanis positions: 1999-2000 lieutenant governor for Division 14; 2004-05 District Foundation president; 2001 District convention chairwoman; 2004-05 District Reorganization Committee
Other community activities/accomplishments: Past state president Alpha Delta Kappa, women’s honorary educational sorority; treasurer, Chapter E MS P.E.O. Sisterhood; finance chairwoman for First United Methodist Church of Biloxi; administrative board chairwoman of same church; 12 years on Biloxi’s planning commission; secretary of Mardi Gras Museum board
Your motivation? “Everyone needs help. My mother was a very caring and concerned person who gave not only to her family but those in the community. I learned from her and had the opportunity she didn’t have to join an organization that helps everyone. There is strength in numbers.”
Why join Kiwanis? “As a spouse, I had assisted my husband in a booth at the club’s Fishing Rodeo, the main fundraiser. The next year, and for several after, I was in charge of the queen contestants. When I moved to the high school, I asked to be the Key Club advisor so that I would have at least a weekly contact with the young people.”
Favorite inspirational quote: “As a pragmatist, I especially like Ecclesiastes 3:1-5, which tells that every deed, thought, or feeling has an appropriate moment.”
After she devoted 33 years to Biloxi public schools, to say Julia believes strongly in education is an understatement. But she does, and the proof goes way beyond her career: She was involved in Key Club as a faculty advisor before ever joining Kiwanis. She was instrumental in establishing the Terrific Kids and Bring Up Grades programs in six of the Biloxi schools, and she helped organize the Builders Club at Michel Middle School.
“When the Biloxi schools reorganized the placement of grades into different buildings, I made sure the Builders Club continued in the eighth- and ninth-grade building,” she says. “This age student seems to have a great deal of interest in the community and in helping.”
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