Margaret T. Julian

1938 - 2021

Margaret T. Julian

January 11, 1938 - October 21, 2021

ATLANTA, GA -

Margaret Taktakian Julian died at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, GA, on October 21, 2021, at the age of 83. Always the good citizen, she was hurrying to learn about early voting when she fell and broke her hip. A week later, after surgery, she died of cardiac arrest.

She was born in Racine on January 11, 1938, the third of four children in an immigrant Armenian family. Her mother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey in 1915. The older of her two brothers was killed in action in the Korean War in 1952; the younger served in the U.S. Marines. Her parents and both her brothers predeceased her; her only sister survives her.

Margaret was an excellent student from her earliest school days, winning the Garfield School kindergarten good behavior prize, despite having missed weeks of class due to an emergency appendectomy and a stay in a polio isolation hospital. (Her big brothers teased that she won the prize because she had been absent so much that the teacher really didn't know her.) Her polio leg gave her trouble all her life.

She graduated from Horlick High School, and then from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She taught English and Spanish in several Wisconsin schools, including Racine's Starbuck Jr. High. She married in 1966 and had two children. Her family moved to Atlanta in 1980. She divorced in 2008.

For several years before her retirement, she worked at the Georgia Innocence Project, where she was a friend and confidante to the exonerees. Her kindness and generosity there were remembered as bringing light and warmth to those who needed it most. She was a member of Atlanta's Church of Our Saviour, where she served on the altar guild and volunteered at the after-school program.

Her diminutive stature and shy smile belied a keen intelligence and a razor-sharp wit. She loved cooking and baking; old movies (she knew the dialogue of Indiscreet by heart); and the Tennis Channel (she could list the name, ranking, and country of origin of most of the pros). The Atlanta Braves were always in her heart.

She is survived by her daughter, Susan Julian (Jeff List) of Atlanta; her son, John H. Julian (Kaoru) of Clarksburg, MD; her sister, Eleanor Edmondson (Charles) of Atlanta; nieces: Lilly Hubbard (Michael) of Eagle, ID, and Elizabeth Edmondson (Brian Walsh) of New York, NY; and great-niece and great-nephew: Margaret and James Walsh, also of New York. She was dearly loved by many and will be sorely missed.

A private graveside service is planned. Those who wish to remember her with contributions should direct them to The Georgia Innocence Project, 50 Hurt Plaza SE Suite 350, Atlanta, GA 30303.