Julia Nelson Easley Mak

Mak
Julia Nelson Easley Mak
Julia Nelson Easley Mak was born in Washington, DC in 1927 and spent her early childhood in Lewisburg, West Virginia where her father was the local attorney for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad for many years. She was known as Judy among her school friends and as Julie in her adult life. Julie was a life-long Episcopalian whose strong faith and love of the Church guided her daily life. She was also a proud descendent of George Mason who wrote the Virginia Bill of Rights on which the US Bill of Rights was based. Julie's grandparents founded the Washington-based Gunston Hall School for Girls which she attended until the start of World War II when the school closed. She completed her high school at Mount Vernon Seminary in Washington, DC, and graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1949. Throughout her life, Julie was a strong advocate for Sweet Briar, and she kept in close touch with her college friends.

Julie's early work experience was as a copy editor for the Washington Post and she wrote several travel articles for the Post during the summer of 1949. As a prelude to her life of travel, Julie embarked on her first overseas adventure traveling alone to Italy on a Norwegian cargo ship to visit cousins who were stationed in Genoa. Her love of antiquities and archaeology was sparked as she traveled by bus to various towns and sites throughout Italy. During her travels, she met her future husband, Dayton S. Mak, a US Foreign Service Officer, who was on a brief leave from his assignment in Saudi Arabia. Married in March 1951, the couple traveled to their first post together, Tripoli, Libya. Julie then accompanied her husband on assignments in England, Kuwait and Lebanon. Living in the Middle East enabled her to travel extensively visiting archaeological sites throughout the region and to hone her passion for the art and culture of the Middle East.

At her husband's retirement from the State Department in 1970, the Maks lived for a short time in Waterloo, Iowa where they assisted Dayton's ailing parents. Upon returning to Washington, DC, Julie enjoyed many years working in real estate concentrating on the Georgetown area until her retirement in 2015. She is lovingly remembered by her family for her regular attendance at her grandchildren's sporting events and her weekly handwritten letters and news clippings to her grandchildren once they moved away from Washington, DC. Julie is also remembered for her love of swimming, and at 6 a.m. on most weekday mornings, she could be found swimming laps at a neighborhood indoor pool.

Julie was predeceased by her husband in 2018. She is survived by her daughter, Holly Dayton Mak (Marc Hersh), and grandchildren, Emma C. Hersh (Jean Doyle) and Christopher J. Hersh (Tammy Saah), and four great grandchildren, Aiden Doyle-Hersh, Cullen Doyle-Hersh, Charlotte Hersh, and Marcella Hersh.