Juli Edith Biehler-Barnes

Juli Edith Biehler-Barnes of Edmond, OK, passed from this world into the loving arms of Jesus Christ on February 12th, 2025 after a long and courageous battle with cholangiocarcinoma. Juli was born on June 14th, 1967 in Oklahoma City to Dr. Larry and Arlene Biehler. She grew up playing and having adventures on the family’s ten acres in northwest Oklahoma City and graduated from Putnam City North High School in 1985. While she was in high school, her parents began leading medical mission trips through Feed The Children to Central America and these medical mission teams became a significant part of the Biehler’s family life for several decades. While on a medical mission to El Salvador in 1984, Juli met and fell in love with the love of her life, Brent Barnes. Brent also loved and adored Juli. After graduation from high school, Juli followed Brent to college at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and they both graduated in 1989. Juli graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. Juli and Brent married on June 24th, 1989. While Brent attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma and did his residency in Emergency Medicine at the OU Medical Center, Juli taught second grade at Tulakes Elementary school in the Putnam City district from 1989 until 1996. Teaching second graders was one of her passions and she loved her students. During her years of teaching she impacted the lives of hundreds of children. She had a special love for her Hispanic students and those students whose primary language was not English. Some of her former students even kept in contact with her through social media decades later.

In 1996, Juli and Brent had their first child, Sydney, followed several years later by their son, Garrett, and finally their second daughter, Kayla. After having her first child, Juli made the decision to leave the teaching profession and devote her entire time to raising their three children. She was a wonderful mother and homemaker. Throughout the remainder of her life, she poured every ounce of love into raising her three children with her husband and guiding them in life as they were her greatest love and joy on Earth.

Juli had many other passions in life. She was active in many churches during her lifetime, including attending Highland Hills Baptist Church, Council Road Baptist Church, Quail Springs Baptist Church and Community Crossings Church. She and her husband taught young adult and children's Sunday School classes in two of those churches. She and her husband loved to travel and especially loved scuba diving and underwater photography. They traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and had a true love of the islands and experiencing the different cultures of the Caribbean. She had a spirit of adventure, especially regarding the ocean and she loved beachcombing and collecting sea glass. Juli also had a tremendous passion for collecting and repairing vintage costume jewelry and amassed an amazing collection of vintage costume brooches. She was always happy to loan some of her favorite brooches to anyone to wear at a special event. Juli and her sister, Lori, loved to bake and blessed many people who were having a special event or going through a rough time in their lives with unexpected homemade cookies or baked goods. However, Juli’s biggest love throughout her life was her family. She loved getting together with extended family for any holiday or special occasion. Her kids were the biggest passion of her life and she spent thousands of hours with them involved in their home, school and extracurricular activities. She particularly enjoyed her 12 years of work and involvement with the Edmond Santa Fe band as all three of her children participated in the marching band throughout their high school years. She did the marching band uniform fittings for every band member for several years and also made the senior mums that were presented to the graduating seniors on band senior night.

Juli is survived by her parents, Dr. Larry and Arlene Biehler of OKC, Oklahoma. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Steven Brent Barnes and their three children, Dr. Sydney Elizabeth Barnes, Garrett Daniel Barnes and Kayla Marie Barnes of Edmond, OK. She is also survived by her brother, Dr. Jefry Biehler and his wife, Paula Biehler of Mouth of Wilson, VA, her sister Lori Brannan and her husband Dr. Darin Brannan of OKC, her sister Flor Cox and her husband Chris Cox, and her sister Mavi Horstman and her husband, Dr. Joe Horstman, all who live in OKC. She is also survived by multiple cousins and nieces and nephews and a huge amount of adoring friends.

A Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, March 14th at 10:00 AM at Crossings Community Church at 14600 N. Portland Avenue in OKC. Juli’s family would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Hassan Hatoum and the staff at the Stephenson Cancer of the OU Medical Center for their wonderful care of Juli during her cancer journey. Juli’s family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation at cholangiocarcinoma.org or the Edmond Santa Fe Band.