Dr. Julie Rose Sublette

1929 - 2009

Dr. Julia Rose Wright Sublette, surrendered her physical body to cancer Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, at home, surrounded by her family.
A memorial service will be held for at the Shalimar United Methodist Church, One Old Ferry Road, on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 11 a.m. Friends may greet the family at the church at 10 a.m. Dr. Larry Bryars will be officiating.
In lieu of flowers all are encouraged to donate to the Julia Sublette Music Scholarship fund at the Foundation for North West Florida State College, 100 College Blvd., Niceville, Fla., 32578.
She came into the world Friday Sept. 13, 1929, at the Baptist parsonage in Natural Bridge, Va., to Annie Belle Watkins Wright and the Reverend Paul Thomas Wright.
Her early life was spent on a farm near Roanoke and Salem, Va. She then moved to South Carolina where she attended schools in Oconee County, graduating from high school in Toccoa, Ga.
Her entire life was devoted to music and higher education. Her college career began at Mary Washington, then on to Furman University where she graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Piano and Theory. While at Furman she edited the University's literary magazine and accompanied the University chorus. She later obtained a Masters of Music in Piano Performance from the Cincinnati Conservatory in 1954, graduating as a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. Four children later, Julia obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Humanities from Florida State University in 1993 by preparing and publishing the first collection of the letters of Anna Marie Calhoun Clemson, the daughter of statesman John C. Calhoun, and who was instrumental in founding Clemson University.
As part of her lifelong interest in education and the advancement of the rights of women and Native Americans she was active for 38 years in the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, chairing major committees, she was a member of the Southern Association of Women Historians, and a frequent contributor to Native American causes.
Over the years Dr. Sublette held the Southern Division Chair of the Music Teachers National Association; held several vice presidential and other positions in the Florida Music Teachers Association (FSMTA), as well as in the National Guild of Piano Teachers and the Okaloosa County Music Teachers Association. She edited several professional journals including the FSMTA's Florida Music Teacher for seven years. At the time of her death Julia was president of FSMTA District One. She was known throughout the State as an accompanist, piano performer and a premier teacher of music teachers. She taught at the North West Florida State College for thirty years teaching Humanities courses and as she would say "teaching music through the piano." She taught also at Troy State University and the University of West Florida. She was nationally certified and held FSMTA's highest certification.
Julia enjoyed performing on keyboard and, while living in Falls Church, Va., was a performing member of the noted Washington, D.C., area Friday Morning Music Club. She was also a frequent and sought-after accompanist at music recitals and competitions, and was organist for the Shalimar Methodist and Shalimar Presbyterian churches for 17 years.
Also while in Falls Church, she served on the Arlington Committee of the Air Force Wives Club, honoring fallen Air Force veterans by regularly attending their funerals at Arlington National Cemetery as the personal representative of the AF Chief of Staff, and by writing the biographies of the wives of members of the Air Staff for publication.
She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Richard Ashmore Sublette, sons Christopher Mark Sublette of Falls Church; Carey Patrick Sublette and wife Catherine Jean Dovell of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; and Wright Daniel Sublette of Shalimar, Fla.; her sister Sarah Elizabeth Simpson and her husband Colonel Richard Russell Simpson of Upatoi, Ga.; and by granddaughters Cayley Ariel Dovell Sublette and Kedron Eridani Dovell Sublette. Julia was predeceased by her daughter Sylvia Judith Sublette Bennett and her husband Philip Bennett. She is also survived by her cousins Martain David (Jack) Watkins and his wife Betty Brockman Watkins, Edward Watkins and his wife Betty Land Watkins all of Westminster, S.C.; Betty Palmer Watkins of Clemson, S.C.; Rosemary Watkins Trammel of Walnut Creek, Calif.; Ginger Johnson Kerr of High Point, N.C.; Robert and Frenchie Richard, and Judy Johnson Evans of Mount Pleasant, S.C.; and by her brothers-in-law Joseph Shepard Sublette and wife Janet Bronson Sublette of Sumter, S.C.