Julia Shurtleff Villacorta

Julia Shurtleff Villacorta, 66, of McLean, loving mother, grandmother, and sister, died suddenly of a stroke on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. She suffered from health issues due to smoking and alcohol abuse.

Julia was born on June 25, 1957 to James William Shurtleff, Sr. and Joan Olszewski Shurtleff in Detroit, Michigan. As the eldest girl of eight children, she was expected to be perfect. She didn’t let her parents down. She danced ballet and made the honor roll, and “she made it look easy,” according to her youngest brother Carl. Her nose was always buried in a book, often a Nancy Drew novel. She helped care for her siblings and served as their “fearless leader,” her sister Sylvia said. Julia would remain an independent leader with a thirst for knowledge for the rest of her life.

All through high school, Julia was a glasses-wearing, self-proclaimed nerd. She “blossomed” once she enrolled in Rutgers College in the fall of 1975, a member of the third class of women admitted. Shortly after, at a dorm party, she slipped on the beer-slick floor and fell backwards into the arms of Ybet Villacorta, her future husband. The next year, she met life-long friend Maryellen Crumlish. The two were roommates for several years, and for a time, their closet was occupied by Julia’s younger sister Claudia. Julia majored in microbiology, but she was always reading novels.

After graduation, Julia worked as a technician at an animal laboratory, testing cancer drugs on rats. Years later, when her children complained about their first jobs out of college, she would bring up the rats: how they sank their fangs into her hands; how they stank; how she cleaned their filthy cages. She’d laugh about the friend who landed her the job, who got pissed when Julia was promoted to lab manager–over the friend–and thus exempted from rat duty.

In 1981, Julia married Ybet. Two years later, the couple moved to Boston, where Julia worked at New England Nuclear Corporation, overseeing quality control. In the evenings, she attended graduate school at Boston College, where she earned her MBA.

In September 1986, Julia welcomed her first child, Amelia. The next year, the family moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, and Julia began working in sales for Dupont, selling laboratory equipment to colleges in Manhattan, including Rockefeller University, Columbia, and NYU. She was proud of her success as a salesperson and often described how she threw parties to clinch sales, buying kegs for graduate students and scotch for the principal investigators. Her sales were so high that after she quit, she said, the man who replaced her couldn’t keep up and accused her of sleeping with her clients. That was the only explanation he could come up with—not that she’d simply been very good at her job.

Julia had her second child, Natalie, in April 1991. The family moved to McLean, Virginia in 1994, where Julia focused on caring for her children, a choice she took pride in. In June 1997, she had her third child, Julian, who was named after his mother. Julia poured herself into raising her children; if there was an award for top mother like there had been for top salesperson, she would have won it. She served on the PTA and taught Art Appreciation. She served as Girl Scout Troop Leader and Cub Scout Leader. She sewed many Halloween costumes, some of her most elaborate being a princess riding a pony for Amelia, a blue raspberry Pop-Tart for Natalie, and a green satin dragon for Julian.

Julia was an outstanding cook. She packed lunches for her children that often included sweet notes, and every night she cooked dinner. Her specialties included breaded pork chops with homemade applesauce, beef stroganoff, sloppy joes, and, of course, pot roast. She loved to try out new recipes and in later years branched out into Asian cuisine, mastering beef lo mein. She would stand behind the kitchen counter and watch her kids eat and ask them about their days, encouraging them to eat seconds and making sure they finished their vegetables.

Julia had a thirst for knowledge and read widely. She subscribed to The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, in addition to many magazines, in order to get a range of perspectives on current events. She was particularly interested in arts and culture. She went to see the latest well-reviewed movies and plays at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, and other local venues, as well as on Broadway. She was always on the lookout for exhibits at the National Gallery of Art, Hirshhorn, and other art museums and liked to attend gallery talks and lectures. She was fond of Impressionism, especially the work of Mary Cassatt and Paul Cezanne. She stayed up-to-date on contemporary literature, and as a result, was always reading several novels at once. At one point, she belonged to not one but two book clubs. She always read the book under discussion and was frustrated when the other members did not.

Julia refused to be told what to think; she wanted to think for herself. She was curious about other people’s opinions, but she stayed true to her own. She was not afraid to speak her mind and to stand up for what she thought was right. She was vocal about her belief in a woman’s right to an abortion. She told you if she thought what you were wearing “did nothing” for you. She called out strangers for cutting lines. She sent back overcooked salmon. She especially stood up for her children and taught them to stand up for themselves–even to her.

Julia knew what she wanted, and she fought for it. She was her own woman. She lived the life she wanted to live.

In addition to her parents, Julia was preceded in death by her sister, Claudia Stepien.

Julia is survived by her three children and their spouses: Amelia Lojek and her husband Joe; Natalie Villacorta and her husband Ben Sandman; and Julian Villacorta and his wife Annika Roll; her siblings: James Shurtleff, Jr. (Jill), Paul Shurtleff (Nancy), Patricia Millen, Sylvia Cutler (Jeff), Mark Shurtleff, and Carl Shurtleff; her sister-in-law, Beth Woodhead; her two grandchildren, Blake and Carter Lojek; and her ex-husband, Ybet Villacorta.

The family would like to thank Julia’s long-time friends and neighbors Teri and Frank Bennett and Cathy and Rick Schwartz, who showed up for Julia in her times of need, big and small. Gratitude as well to Blanca Rivera, Julia’s home health aide.

The family will hold a private celebration of life in June. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Julia’s local NPR station WAMU 88.5 or her local PBS affiliate WETA.