Julia Clare Fabula

Julia Clare Fabula, 42, of Bel Air, MD, passed away on May 19, 2015 at the Senator Bob Hooper House in Forest Hill, MD.

Julie was born in La Plata, MD, the middle child of Kay and the late Bob Simmons. She has an older brother, Rob, a younger sister, Dana, 1 niece, & 3 nephews. She attended Archbishop Neale School for 1st through 8th grades and graduated Salutatorian from La Plata High School in 1990. She attended Western Maryland College (now known as McDaniel College) with a degree in Business Administration and Economics and a minor in Accounting. Julie was a Phi Sigma Sigma, President of the College Activities Programming Board, and voted "Best All Around Senior Female" by college faculty and administration. She was known as the "information center" by her friends.

Julie met George by chance after college graduation in Fells Point. While dating, they enjoyed going to Orioles games and socializing in Baltimore. In 1994, she started working for First Financial Federal Credit Union as a teller and advanced through many positions including branch manager and call center manager. They were married on April 26, 1997, and then purchased their townhome in Perry Hall. One thing Julie and George always like to do was to take walks. When both got home from work, they took walks and talked about work and the future. They took a lot of walks at Loch Raven and those walks helped their relationship and grow closer as a couple. They talked about how they would grow old and live in a town or community where you could walk or bike to the local store or maybe the library. It was always a dream of theirs. When their oldest son, Nicholas, came along in March 2000, they took him along for walks in the neighborhood and did miles at Perry Hall High School's track with him. Their second son, Owen, was born in April of 2002. After Owen was born, Julie began working part time to allow her to spend more time at home with the boys. In 2004, they moved to their current home in Bel Air. In 2006, their daughter, Jillian, completed their family.

Julie was an active volunteer at the kids' schools and always present at their sporting events, whether that was soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming, or cross country. If you asked Julie to do something, even months down the line, she would automatically think of what schedule conflicts the family might have. Julie always put the kids first in her life and thought about them every single day. She was compulsively on time (or early!) and quite the planner – probably made some of you crazy!

She enjoyed annual trips to the beach and travelling, whether day trips or longer adventures. She loved running, especially on the Ma & Pa trail and many 5K's, biking, and "playing" Words with Friends. Let's be honest: beating people at Words with Friends, which she did often. Reading was one of Julie's passions; books of all subjects, magazines, and newspapers were always on hand. Her dream job was to be a librarian surrounded by books and helping out.

In September, 2012, Julie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. From the onset, she instructed her doctor to aggressively treat the cancer as her main focus was on her family. After chemo, surgery to replace part of her right leg bones and knee, then more chemo, she had a wait-and-see period of 3 months. To the dismay of all, a new scan showed the cancer had progressed to her lungs so a different type of chemo was started as well as an alternative treatment. In November, 2014, she started a drug trial at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda as the chemo had caused too many side effects to continue. In December, 2014, a scan showed that she had developed brain lesions so she was ineligible to continue the drug trial. She had a series of radiation treatments which failed to reduce the lesions which were causing swelling and additional difficulties. In March she enrolled in Hospice care at home.

Julie took much comfort in all the prayers and Masses offered on her behalf. Friends and relatives from across the country assured her of their prayers and support, both individually and on their church prayer intentions. She was grateful to Father Jerry, Father Foley, Deacon Marty, and the families at St. Mark's Church for their faithful assistance throughout her illness.

Mrs. Fabula is survived by her husband, George Fabula Jr.; sons, Nicholas Edward Fabula and Owen Michael Fabula; daughter, Jillian Elizabeth Fabula; brother, Robert Michael Simmons Jr. of Abilene, TX; sister, Dana Kathleen Raven of Ellebell, GA; and grandmother, Mary Ruth Simmons of Harvest, AL.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Mark Catholic Church, 2407 Laurel Brook Road, Fallston, MD 21047 or Cancer LifeNet, c/o Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation, 520 Upper Chesapeake Drive, Suite 405, Bel Air, MD 21014.