Julie O'Connor

Julie O’Connor was born Julie Velma Randall on a perfect, near 80-degree summer day in Portland, Maine on Friday, July 14, 1950. A welcomed surprise for her parents, Alice Victoria Oliver Randall and Greenfield “Gus” Augustus Randall, Julie was seven years younger than her closest sibling of which there were four. Quietly watching the antics of her brothers Harry and Gus Jr. and sisters Margaret and Victoria, Julie learned at an early age who she was and what she wanted. She stayed true to herself throughout her life.

Secure in her person and knowing her own strengths and weaknesses, Julie, a young mother of two daughters, April Julie O’Connor and Amanda Gail O’Connor, purposefully taught her girls to be strong, independent, caring women who could support and take care of themselves. She filled the house with music and kept flowers on the table which she casually called “food for the soul.” A lover of water, she often spent summer days with her girls at the beach or lake.

Julie held dear the memories of her “summer of love” in 1967 hanging out at Haight-Ashbury during the hippie revolution. She cherished family and spoke often of the times she spent caring for her younger nieces and nephews in both California and New York. As a music lover, she traveled to Bethel, NY to attend Woodstock in 1969 under the guise of going to visit her sister upstate. A passionate reader, she spent several years teaching adult literacy. An empty nester in her 40’s, Julie loved to vacation and spend time with her sisters. She loved to hang-out and lunch with her “gal pals,” a group of friends forged at an early age. These vibrant ladies were the fountain of freedom in her later years. They truly enriched one another’s lives.

After a successful career as a genius medical coder, Julie retired and was gifted with her only grandchild and namesake, Julien Philip Lawrence Labonte. She was fortunate to have her daughter Amanda, her husband Joe, and their son move downstairs from her after Julien was born. For the next six years, Julien was her source of delight and happiness. She read to him nightly, they played games and spent time at the lake house being in nature and taking adventures on the boat.

Julie was a tenderhearted person of strong faith and believed in treating others with kindness and respect knowing she would one day see those she lost again. One of her favorite songs was Elton John’s tribute to her first love, John Lennon. We send her off and leave you, reader, with this lyric – “And we are so amazed, we are crippled, and we are dazed, a gardener like that, no one can replace.”

Julie died at home, peacefully in her sleep on a winter’s morning, Friday, February 7, 2025, at the age of 74.