Lilla Marie Wood Julia Obituary (1928 - 2018)

Fairfield-Lilla Marie Wood Julia, 90, of Fairfield passed away on June 19, 2018 in her sleep at Lakewood nursing home, in the Alzheimer’s/dementia unit. Lilla was born in Queens New York to the late Prescott and Hazel Wood on March 13, 1928 where her father was working at the time; she was the second of five siblings. She is pre-deceased by her parents George Prescott and Hazel Wood; her loving husband Arthur Donald Julia; daughter in law Sandy Julia of Belgrade, son in law Richard Bowles of Tennessee, three sisters Mary Levine Owens, Barbara Alley Wade, and Ima Fales. Mother is survived by her seven children: James of Belgrade, Judy Labbe with her husband David of Rome, Maine, June Nelson with her husband John of Waterville, Janice Bowles of Oakland, John with his beautiful life partner Dottie Ricci of Fairfield Center, Jeannine Poulin with her husband Stephen of Fairfield, and her youngest daughter Jackie Julia with her partner Peter Walsh of Oakland. Also, a vast number of grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and great-great-grandchildren. Her only surviving sibling is Harvey Wood and his wife Joyce of Fairfield; along with a vast number of nieces and nephews. Mother grew up in Fairfield Center helping on the family farm on the Ohio Hill Road. She attended Fairfield schools and while in high school between her studies, playing basketball, and working on the farm, she met her love of her life, our father Arthur D. Julia. After graduating in 1945 from Lawrence High School, mother married the love of her life in 1946 and moved to the Julia farm in Fairfield for a short while before they purchased their own farm outside Hinckley Village. On this very simple farm I remember mama making sure that everyone of her kids (there was six of us at the time) had plenty of good food to eat - mama was a fantastic cook and the ability to make something simple tastes scrumptious. Mother worked a big garden of every type of vegetable from start to finish and picked all kinds of berries every year and then would can her harvest. Mom and dad would cut up a half a cow for the freezer every year to make sure we had ample food to eat. Mom was famous for her breads, rolls and homemade donuts which she made us every week. She made molasses, chocolate, and plain sugar donuts and every Saturday she filled big glass gallon jars on the counter with her hard work, and unfortunately they would all be gone by Tuesday!! Mom used to work very hard baking and cooking every year around the Skowhegan Fair and would always win many blue ribbons and always enough prize money to send us kids to the fair on children’s day with a roll of nickels each (which in those days was enough money to ride all the rides!!) Mother always made sure we had plenty to eat, and it was good home cooked food. One time she was offered to publish some of her famous recipes in a magazine but being one who could never take credit for anything, she definitely refused, but we wish she would of said yes. When our family was young, Mother would work night and day on her old sewing machine to make sure that the girls all had the prettiest and most perfect Easter dresses to go to church; Mother took a lot of pride in this. Mom’s life was her family. Sometimes we were overwhelming for her, but she would make us feel so loved on our Birthdays (we would be the only one going for ice cream), to having family get togethers on the hill in Hinckley with our cousins coming in for barbecues, and having her family up to the farm on the hill for Holiday meals. She loved all holidays, but her favorite was by no doubt Christmas. Right after Thanksgiving Mom would make up a list and make sure everything was done to perfection to ensure that we always had a fantastic Christmas, even if it was a simple Christmas. We always had an overstuffed stocking and some type of toy to celebrate the holiday. In later years as life got better for the family she took much enjoyment in going shopping for her grandchildren and later her great grandchildren - going down to the stores and buying toy trucks and perfectly selecting pretty dolls that only she could pick out. Mother would work all week to give us the biggest feast of the year and mom cooked it all, everything, and she always brought out the fancy China. The kids would all help her set up the dinner and she always made sure that the complete family was there to enjoy the festive holiday. These are some of the reasons all seven of her kids love Christmas so much. Mother was a hard worker, helping right alongside Dad with their antique and auction business. Mother kept all the books (along with many other jobs) and took pride in that after every auction she would work all night to make sure the books balanced right down to the penny. Later on, as she kept the house going strong, and helped dad run the business, she somehow also found extra time to run different antique malls that her oldest son Jim established. Our mother was the glue that held our family together. She made our clothes, made our butter, and made our house a home. Mother, while waiting for dinner to cook, would play the piano and sing in her beautiful voice which was amazing as she was self taught and to the end of her life she still loved music. Mom lived to play cards, board games and for sure Bingo. She would, any chance she got, meet up with her friends Mickey, Trudy, Barbara, Grammy, and play cards, or play board games with her friend Jean. In her later years, you could always find Mom on Friday nights playing cards with her “girls”. Twice a week she would ALWAYS go to bingo with usually one of her daughters, most of the time with Jeannine and when they came home, we would ask “did you win Mom?” and she would always tell you how close she came to winning a game but if you asked her if she made any money? Her eyes would get a twinkle and she would always say, “we go to have fun only!” Mom and whoever her playing partner at the time would never tell us how much they won. Later on in years before she went into the nursing home, you would always find Mom at the kitchen table doing her puzzle books or waiting for the next victim to come in to play her at cards. She loved it when the grand kids visited and when the parents were not looking, Grammy would slip the little ones treats she had hidden for just that special little one coming to visit. My daughter Cassie’s son Charlie was born on Mom’s birthday, which was always special to her. Our sister Judy’s grandchildren were named after Mother (Lilla Flood) and mom’s dad (Prescott Flood). Our sister June has a granddaughter that is named Julia and our sister Jeannine also has a granddaughter named Julia which made Mother very proud. Mother and Dad loved their children and also really loved the grandchildren, great grandchildren and now their great great grandchildren so much. Easter time would come and Mother used to love hiding plastic eggs all over the farm filled with goodies, and made sure the youngest kids always got their limit by how carefully Grammy would place the eggs! Mom got so much joy from this!! Arthur & Lilla established a scholarship fund for the future so all of the young ones could further their education if they wanted. Mom and Dad wanted all their children to stop buying them gifts for holidays and birthdays and made us take the money and deposit it in the scholarship fund, which has grown in to a nice legacy, and has helped many children already. Mother requested no funeral arrangements and also made it clear that she wished no flowers, but anyone so inclined and wishing to make a donation in her memory could do so by making a check payable to the: Julia Scholarship Fund, c/o Janice Bowles, 17 Rossignol Avenue, Oakland, Maine 04963 We would like to extend our deepest thanks to the complete staff at the Alzheimer’s/Dementia unit at Lakewood Nursing Home in Waterville for their loving care and also their friendship they showed to our Mother during her stay there. We truly appreciated it. Our mother was loved and admired by many. We are very grateful for all the hard work that she has done for all of us and she will be greatly missed. You can now rest easy Mom. We know that you are at peace and pain free. We can see you dancing now with the love of your life on the clouds. We will all miss and love you forever and a day mama. God saw you getting tired, And a cure was not to be, So he put his arms around you, And whispered, “Come to me.” With tearful eyes we watched you As you slowly slipped away. And though we loved you dearly, We couldn’t make you stay. Your golden heart stopped beating, Your tired hands put to rest. God broke our hearts to prove to us, HE ONLY TAKES THE BEST.