Julia Ann Saffran

Our Creator, the Lord God, called Julia Ann (Jules) home on September 26, 2019. Although a breast cancer survivor for over 26 years, Julie, after a long and arduous battle with congestive heart failure, diabetes, arthritis, and numerous other conditions, succumbed to these persistent ailments. As she is now rejoicing in the Heavenly Kingdom, each of us was blessed to have shared a golden memory or two. Julie was a true Christian, a superb wife, a terrific mother, grandmother and daycare mom, a most faithful companion and dedicated citizen throughout her more than 81 years on this earth. Each of our lives have been enhanced by her presence and, most certainly, she will surely spruce up Paradise!

Julie was born on January 17, 1938 to the late Bernard Victor and Sarah Ann Grubitz in Baltimore, Maryland, the first of two daughters. Just over a year old, she developed double pneumonia and became a guinea pig for the new drug, penicillin. Obviously, it worked. As Julie grew up in west Baltimore on Kinsey Avenue, she attended the first grade at Saint Benedict’s on Wilkens Avenue and graduated from the eighth grade, with honors, from Saint Martin’s on Fulton Avenue in 1951, both Catholic Parochial schools. Continuing her education, she attended Seton High School on Charles Street, receiving her diploma in 1955. Later, in 1967, she was awarded an Honorary Spousal Degree from Towson University in Maryland.

In life, Julie was always a devoted family person, especially when it involved children. As a youngster during WWII, her father was in the Navy serving on a Destroyer guarding New York Harbor and her mother was a seamstress making US Army uniforms at the Grue Clothing Company in east Baltimore. This placed Julie in a position to care for her younger sister, Patricia on a continual basis. In addition, Julie became the teenage baby sitter and welcome confidant for a number of younger cousins. After high school graduation, she became an office assistant at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) and resigned when she was not granted time off without pay to travel with her Aunt Evelyn Carfine to Cuba, where they were provided accommodations on Batista’s property, the Cuban Dictator. After returning to the USA, Julie was employed by the Western Electric Company (WE), a subsidiary of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) the conglomerate that maintained the Trans-Atlantic Cable. Julie was an office assistant in the payroll department of WE.

She married George Theodore Saffran in 1961 at Saint Agnes Church. The ceremony was conducted by her uncle, John Grubitz (ordained as Reverend Stanley), a Franciscan Missionary who was stationed in Costa Rica. For more than 60 years, Julie was Ted’s lover, anchor, companion, and life-long confidant. She worked at WE from 1961 through 1965, when she terminated her employment to prepare for the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie in April 1966. Uncle Johnny, as Julie addressed him, on finally hearing the news of her pregnancy, was relieved to learn that he did, in fact, incorporate every aspect of marriage into the wedding ceremony, including having children. In the four-year interim from 1961-1965, Julie lost two fetuses. This had a significant effect as she transformed both tragedies into a positive result for all of the children whom she touched. For example, she was very active in the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland as Leader of Troup 1233 and, ultimately was appointed as the Director of an entire area, Community 52. A plaque, in the form of a masonry brick, was bestowed upon Julie for her dedicated service and, to this day, remains on display at Camp Ilchester in Ellicott City, Maryland.

In addition to scouting, Julie was active in the Parent-Teacher Association of Edmondson Heights Elementary School as the Secretary of Finance; at Saint Agnes Catholic Church as a teacher of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (Sunday school); and she also was a Baltimore County Licensed Day Care Mother for more than ten years, teaching and nurturing over two dozen little ones. With the advent of becoming a grandmother, Julie remained dedicated to caring for the young as all of her grandchildren, nieces, and nephews have now reached adulthood. During their youth, Julie travelled extensively with them by land, sea, and air throughout the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and even organized cruises to Alaska, the Mediterranean, and Europe - such highlights included visits to the Vatican, Normandy, and the Eiffel Tower. She particularly adored Walt Disney World, visiting at least semiannually from its opening in 1971 through 2015. Her epitaph will forever read: “FIRST, comes the children, THEN, comes the children, AND THEN, comes the children!” We may be absolutely assured that Almighty God and our Blessed Mother have welcomed Julie with open arms and directed her to administer to the youth in Heaven as she was a loyal and committed servant to family, God and Country. Most definitely, she is a welcome addition to the Kingdom of God! May each of us whom she touched, sprinkle her beam of light among those we love until our eternity is at hand.

Julie was preceded in death by her parents, all of her aunts and uncles, her father and mother-in-law, George Joseph and Teresa Elizabeth Saffran, her sister-in-law Ann Virginia Saffran, brother-in-law Lawrence Daniel Curtis, and innumerable cousins, close friends, and acquaintances. She is survived by her husband Ted, her daughter, Lisa Marie Benton (David), and her grandchildren: Erin Marie Benton Moxley (Alex); David Eric Benton II; and Christiana Marie Benton. Julie is also survived by her sister, Patricia Lou Curtis, her sister-in-law, Mary Anita Saffran, School Sisters of Notre Dame, along with five nieces and nephews: Bernard Curtis (Nischmed); Sarah Seidl (David); Daniel Curtis (Kary); Diane Curtis, and Denise Boersma (Frank); as well as numerous cousins, great nieces and nephews. Jules, you will be sorely missed by all and, until we meet again, your joy and blessings will be treasured by each of us. What a blessing to have been associated with you! May you now thoroughly enjoy breaking bread with the Lord Himself!