Julie Ann West

Julie Ann West
June 23, 1939 --- April 5, 2020

Julie joined the world on June 23,1939, to be with her parents, Edward and Edna Novak, and brother, Warren. As a little girl, she was often at the movies and learned how to bake from all the neighbor ladies who lived in their apartment building.

After her parents’ divorce, Julie moved to Arlington, Virginia with her mother and stepfather, Benjamin Franklin Dickson. She graduated from Washington and Lee High School in 1957 and immediately joined the National Park Service as a GS-3 clerk typist. In 1958, she married Michael L. West, who was in the Navy. In 1959 their daughter, Jennifer Lee, was born.
Julie continued to work at the National Park Service, consistently advancing to the next level. Julie and Mike divorced in 1964. Julie and Jenny relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1972, where she was promoted to the Regional Director Executive Secretary, a GS-7 position. In 1973, she was offered another promotion, moving her out of the secretarial field, becoming the Administrative Officer in the Denver Regional office for U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She remained with this organization until she retired as a GS-12 Administrative Officer in 1983.

As well as having a successful career, Julie was a master of many skills. As a single parent, she raised her daughter, Jenny, who graduated from University of Northern Colorado in 1980. Julie was an accomplished seamstress, gardener, (both flowers, roses in particular, and vegetables) and cook. She played party and duplicate bridge, Scrabble, Sudoku and almost any card or board game. She loved camping, the New York Times crossword, and entertained her myriad of friends all her life. She loved animals and advocated for their care and survival.  In 1999, she moved to Albuquerque to help with Jenny’s midwifery, water birth, and complementary medicine career where Julie continued her welcoming friendly ways and made new friends with her humorous take on almost any topic or situation.

Julie learned she had breast cancer in May 2019, and that it had already spread to other areas. On April 5, 2020, Julie succumbed to cancer. She is missed by all of us who know and love her. She is survived by her daughter, Jenny, in New Mexico and her brother, Warren, in Nevada.