Julie Marie (Grasham) Blasingame

Julie was born in Baldwin Park, California on November 13, 1958 to William, Sr. and Eleanor Grasham. She was raised in California, but came to Texas as a teenager. She attended Abilene Christian University and met the love of her life, Guy there. They married July 6, 1979 and had three children between 1986-1992. She graduated from ACU in 1982 and taught in Abilene for two years. They moved to Mesquite in 1985. Julie worked at home as an afterschool home day care provider. She began teaching again in 1997. She worked for Dallas and DeSoto ISD for 23 years as an Art Teacher. She was also an Avon sales representative for 38 years.

Julie learned to play chess while coordinating the after-school program in 1998. She began coaching students in chess and took them to tournaments. Her students won many 1st place awards as individuals and as teams. In 2007, she became the Assistant Director of the University of Texas Dallas summer chess camps. She taught beginning chess to the students there. In 2020, she began teaching online chess classes and was hired as the Supervisor of Academic Programming for Central New York Chess in 2021. She loved teaching chess and seeing the students checkmate each other.

As a teacher, she was recognized several times as "The Teacher of the Year", along with various other cherished awards. One of those awards being 1st Place for "Service Above Self" by the Rotary Club of Dallas in 2008. Julie had several passions. She enjoyed reading, scrapbooking, and drawing. As an artist, she continued to draw and paint when she could. She received a 2nd Place Premium, red ribbon for a painting at the State Fair of Texas in 2009.

Her family and friends will always remember her as a caring, compassionate, wonderful, and dedicated Christ follower. There was only black or white with Julie. She knew what she believed and wanted to help others in their walk with God as well. For the last year of her life, Julie bravely battled pancreatic cancer until she was called home to be with the Lord.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, parents, and beloved daughter, Rachel Marie Blasingame. After the death of her daughter, Julie campaigned for the cable barrier that was placed on I-635 to prevent other crossover fatalities.

She is survived by her husband, two children and two grandchildren, a host of family - brothers, sister, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, an uncle, an aunt, nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews, as well as a multitude of friends and co-workers who cherished their time together.

To honor Julie, charitable donations may be made to the Rachel Blasingame Scholarship Fund, PO Box 851968, Mesquite, TX 75185-1968.