Julia Mae Huntley

Julia Mae Huntley lived a full life deeply rooted in faith, family, creativity, and the simple joys of home. She passed peacefully of a stroke at the age of 91. True to who she was, she stayed with us just long enough to make sure she did not leave on Mother’s Day.

Life began early for Julia. After a childhood spent moving among family members and learning resilience from an early age, she began building a life of her own with Willie. Together they spent 61 years raising their family, growing up side by side with their five children until Willie’s passing in 2012.

Some of Julia’s earliest memories were of life in Pocasset, sleeping on the screened summer porch at her aunt and uncle’s house and warming a brick to tuck into her bed on cold nights. Her uncle owned the local hardware store, and she loved helping there as a girl. That practical spirit stayed with her throughout her life — Julia would always rather wander the aisles of Home Depot than shop at Dillards.

She was a fun and imaginative mother who could turn ordinary moments into lifelong memories. Shoeboxes became roly poly bug houses. Laundry and grocery trips became lessons in life and laughter. Freshly waxed hardwood floors became skating rinks in sock feet. Weekends were spent camping in the La Plata Mountains of Colorado, the deserts of New Mexico & Arizona to the shores of Lake Texoma.

When the family’s home on Lake Texoma was lost to a fire, Julia simply began again, anchored by the faith she carried throughout her life. She believed wholeheartedly that “all things work together for good” because she “loved Jesus” and “was called to his purpose”.

Julia’s life was built around being a homemaker, mother, artist, and Christian woman. A self-taught artist, she worked in oils, acrylics, scratch art, and fabric, always creating something beautiful with her hands. She lovingly sewed dresses for little girls through her church’s Shoebox Ministries. She took pride in her flowers and neatly kept yard, where generations of sparrows, wrens, and bluebirds found homes in her birdhouses.

Julia loved Kelham Baptist Church, Gary Adams, and the church family. She treasured Deb for helping her stay connected in recent years. These are her people. Through them Julia shared her love of scripture, service, and ministry with people across Oklahoma and around the world.

Julia lived independently, faithfully, creatively, and fully for 91 years. She leaves behind a legacy (of 5 children, 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren) who have been shaped by her love, faith, humor, creativity, and steady example — and countless memories of sock-skating across hardwood floors, camping trips under the stars, flowers blooming in tidy beds, and a life well-lived in service to God and others.