Julia Anne "Julie" McGrath

Julia Anne Carey McGrath, of Clayton, died August 2, 2025, while peacefully resting in hospice care at Transitions Life Care in Raleigh. She had turned 90 two weeks earlier. Julie was a loving wife of 67 years to her late husband Jim, and the mother of six children, two of whom (Jim and Kelly) also reside in Clayton. Both Kelly and Jim (and their spouses David and Debbie) were Julie's care and support until the very end.

Julie was one of 11 children of John and Julia Carey, and her mother died in childbirth. Made a ward of the State of New York as a child, she was raised in foster care. She met and married Jim in 1956 and raised six children in Mount Laurel, NJ. Across four decades there, he built a manufacturing business that supported the growing family, while she was the CEO of the Homefront.

Julie was a talented woman. She had a beautiful singing voice, she was a master cake decorator, and few are the people in her circle who had not received some holiday-themed doll created with her own hands. A collector of recipes and recipe books, her collections have been distributed to many who for years sought tightly held secrets, including her famous "Pizza Bread" which several of her children have attempted to re-create, with varying degrees of success.

Jim and Julie retired to Clayton in 1998, seeking weather favorable to a few more rounds of golf each year and proximity to Jim and Debbie and their then-young daughter Meaghan. Soon thereafter, Kelly and David set down roots in Clayton, where their two children (Conor and Rory) were born. Their lives were greatly enriched by the presence of both family nearby and from visits of their six other grandchildren.

The recent pandemic was hard on Julie and Jim, and the social isolation added to their advancing years in accelerating time's march. Particularly difficult was the loss of their weekly attendance at St. Eugene Catholic Church and breakfast following with close friends.

Julie is survived by her six children Jim (Debbie), Tom (Emily), Sean, Bryan (Catherine), Patrick (Stephanie), and Kelly (David); and also her beloved grandchildren, Meaghan (Justin), Lo (Tim), Kevin, Morgan, Colin, Liam, Emma, Conor, and Rory.

Julie's life will be celebrated with a funeral mass on Tuesday, August 12, at 10:00 am at St. Eugene Catholic Church, 608 Lions Club Road, Wendell, NC with a luncheon to follow in the parish hall. Friends and family are encouraged to wear a bit o' green as a nod to Julie's love of her Irish heritage.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Transitions Life Care (www.transitionslifecare.org), or The Children's Home Society of NC (www.chsnc.org).

Arrangements are with Strickland Funeral Home & Crematory, 211 W. Third St., Wendell. www.stricklandfuneral.com