Julia M. ‘Julie’ Smith
Former Black & Decker Corp. marketing coordinator later established her own jewelry business
Julia M. “Julie” Smith, a former marketing coordinator for Black & Decker Corp.’s DeWalt power tool division who later established her own jewelry business, died Sept. 15 of ovarian cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 49.
“Julie was such a good person who always had a smile on her face,” said her sister, Kathleen Murn Drake of West Towson. “She was upbeat, positive and even in the last few weeks in hospice care, she was always thanking the nurses for everything they had done for her.
“She was loved by so many, had tons of friends and loved a good time,” said Ms. Drake. “She liked getting together with family and friends and always loved a good joke.”
“Julie was a fighter, and constantly had a positive attitude and could handle anything that was thrown at her,” said Lauri Robinson, of Atlanta, a longtime friend and former Black & Decker co-worker. “She worried about how others would take what she was facing.”
“The thing that struck me about Julie was that beneath her very kind sweetness was her amazing resilient strength and positivity, especially when it came to deal with her illness,” said Nathalie C. Beatty, a friend of 14 years who lives in Ruxton. “She was a genuine and uncomplicated friend.”
The daughter of John E. Murn, a title company researcher, and Elizabeth Weakley Murn, a homemaker, Julia Murn was born in Baltimore and spent her early years in Charles Village and Keswick Road before moving to a home on Marburth Avenue in Towson.
After graduating in 1984 from Towson High School, she enrolled at what is now McDaniel College in Westminster, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in 1988 in communications and art.
After college, she worked for Kelly Services for a year before going to work at Black & Decker answering telephones. She later was promoted to marketing coordinator and worked on the relaunch of DeWalt power tools, one of the biggest suppliers of tools to homebuilders.
In 1991, she married Edward W. “Ted” Smith Sr., who is now a senior vice president for wealth management at UBS.
Ms. Smith, who lived in the Poplar Hill neighborhood of North Baltimore, left her job at Black & Decker in 1997 to raise her two children.
“We met at Black & Decker ... and then we became best friends,” said Ms. Robinson, who moved to Atlanta eight years ago. “Then we had our children together. They were born six weeks apart. We did family vacations with the Smiths and spent Fourth of Julys together.”
Ms. Smith started to design and make jewelry in a home studio and eventually established a business she named Jules. At the time she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer five years ago, she was working on a line of children’s clothes.
“She was very courageous and was really shocked when she was told that she would not beat the disease when she thought that she would,” said Ms. Drake.
“She was a tireless advocate for others, collecting and maintaining friends with a combination of kindness, a one-millionwatt smile, and warm, bright, beautiful brown eyes,” her husband said.
“We knew this was a potential outcome, so we traveled all over the world and renovated a home in Cape May where her family spent summers for most of her life,” her husband said.
Ms. Smith volunteered at her children’s schools — Gilman and Bryn Mawr — and volunteered with her sister at the Baltimore School for the Arts. She co-chaired the annual Great Chefs’ Dinner at the Family Tree, a nonprofit dedicated to prevention of child abuse and neglect.
She was a member of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, serving on numerous panels, and was an advocate for cancer awareness.
“My twin sister and I grew up with Julie, and we met in the second grade at Rodgers Forge Elementary School,” said Elizabeth S. Blottenberger of Lutherville, another longtime friend.
“She was the most selfless person I’ve ever met in my life, and that is the first thing that comes to mind when describing Julie,” said Ms. Blottenberger. “She was someone you gravitated to in a room because she had a such a great, bellowing laugh. Everyone wanted to get to know her.”
She said Ms. Smith often deflected questions about her illness. “She’d say, ‘I don’t want to bore you with what’s going on with me. What’s new in your life?’ She never really talked about herself.”
“I’ve known her since she was12, and she was always so full of energy,” said Kathy Hudson, a Roland Park writer. “As an adult, it was so striking how devoted she was to her family during her illness. She always wanted to enrich their lives.”
Ms. Smith was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St., where a memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 3.
“As an option, to honor Julie’s casual elegance and love of the beach, women can wear a teal-colored accessory, men can wear ‘beachy ties,’ and anyone who desires can wear flip-flops,” her husband said.
In addition to her husband and sister, Ms. Smith is survived by her son, Edward W. “Jake,” Smith Jr., 18, a freshman at Connecticut College; a daughter, Kathleen Evelyn Smith, 16, a junior at Bryn Mawr School; and her father, of Towson.