Julie Murray Brooks
Julie Murray Brooks, 53, of Seaford, Virginia, passed away on October 2, 2023 after a lengthy battle with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As was typical of her concern for others, she passed quietly, in her sleep.
Julie was born on April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, to James Stanley Murray and Ellen McLernon Murray in Springfield, Illinois. After graduating from Blessed Sacrament High School in 1988, she went on to study painting at the University of Illinois, receiving her BFA in 1992. She came by her artistic talents honestly, and her home was filled with her and her father’s work.
After graduation, Julie moved to the big city of Chicago and began work in the graphic arts and printing fields. In 1995, she met Albert Brooks at a wedding (or a party, if her husband is to be believed) and they wed in 1998, going on to have four children, Isabelle, Meredith, Emma, and Riley.
After her diagnosis in the spring of 2016, Julie fought fiercely to retain a sense of normalcy and stability for her children, despite the tidal wave of change she endured mentally and physically – always with a loving smile on her face, and shine in her eye. (Unless her husband was involved, then it was more often with a sigh of impatience and tolerance.) She never lost her sense of humor, even in her final days calling her husband to her, to tell “jokes.”
Julie was always the sweeter spirit, the gentler soul, leading us by her example to be kinder and more patient than we were and better than we thought we could be. Julie was dearly loved, and will be bitterly missed.
Julie was predeceased by her father, Jim, and The Dude.
She is survived by her husband and children, her mother, Ellen, sister, Ann, her husband, Barry Lamb, their children, Darren, Jeremy, Anthony, Maggie, Bryan, uncle and aunt, Michael Murray and Gina-Jazz Southgate-Murray, uncle and aunt, Gwen and Dick Crosson, and her beloved long-time companions, Gumbo and Zut Alors.
A memorial service will be held January 27, 2024 at 3 PM, at the Amory Funeral Home, 410 Grafton Dr, Yorktown, VA 23692.