Our beautiful mom, Julia Dean Williams Quinn, passed away peacefully at home on January 23rd, 2023. She is survived by her forever love and greatest protector, her loving husband of 62 ½ years, Owen Quinn, her two daughters, Marianna Quinn Conroy (Mike) of Alexandria, VA and Stephanie Quinn Morris of New Bern, NC and her sisters, Patricia “Trit” Williams Cole of Beulaville, NC and Jenny Williams Taylor of Goldsboro, NC. She also leaves behind her treasured grandchildren, Liam and Tate Conroy and Isabel and Anna Morris. She is predeceased by her parents Andrew Pickett and Laura Frances “Tena” Williams and thirteen brothers and sisters.

A memorial service will be held at 4pm on Friday, January 27, 2023, at Edwards Funeral Home. A Celebration of Life will follow at the Kinston Country Club.

Julia was born on August 25th, 1942, in Beulaville, NC. She graduated from Beulaville High School in 1960, where she was honored on the Homecoming Court and received the Superlative: Most Attractive her Senior year. Owen and Julia, high school sweethearts, married on October 28, 1960 and shortly thereafter, moved to the big city of Kinston to begin their lives together. She was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1961. After raising her girls, she managed her husband, Owen’s Nationwide insurance agency, for 35 years until his retirement in 2015.

We naively thought that all parents smooched in the kitchen while their mother prepared a meal and were such good friends, they could share an office and a bed, without seeking legal counsel or threatening bodily harm to each other. We now know their love and commitment were uniquely their own. Mom always sought joy and encouraged us to do the same. She believed you were not fully dressed unless your nails were painted - French manicures DO NOT count - and an outfit wasn’t complete without the perfect shoes. Cooking was the way to show your love for others. Having four burners going and the oven cranked up, while sipping a BLD of Crown and Seven Up, was effortless and fun for her. She loved entertaining and was happiest when our beach house was full, both inside and outside on the porch. She believed "You should throw a party every once in a while so you look at your house through 'fresh eyes' and finally throw out that plant that perished months ago." Mom did not possess a "green thumb", and we often joked that plants in the nursery would quake with fear upon her approach, for they knew, if chosen, the end was nigh. What she lacked in horticultural skills, she more than made up for in myriad other ways.

She was a wonderful mother to her girls and basked in their accomplishments and consoled in their disappointments. Ever a loyal friend, she enjoyed playing bunco with her girlfriends and was an active member of the Kinston Lenoir County Scholarship Pageant Association for twelve years. She catered many small gatherings for close friends and constantly showered those she loved most with thoughtful gifts. She always enjoyed making any place we lived more beautiful, whether the sorority house or a dingy first apartment, by making curtains or sewing pillows or even recovering some ratty old chair. Dad called them her playhouses and she would smile, for she knew her task was complete, this house was now a home. Showering her young grandchildren with mounds of gifts was one of her greatest joys. The world will surely be less without her.

The words do not exist that could begin to express our gratitude for the unwavering devotion our father has shown our mother during the last ten years. His selfless love and attention enabled our mother being with us for longer than we could have ever hoped. He always made sure his "sweetheart" was well cared for. While long and arduous, her illness did, however, introduce us to many wonderful souls we would never have had the opportunity to meet. We would like to thank Trindale President, Kathleen Fuller, Brenda Jones and April Battle for their loving care over the last three years. Thank you also, to the team at 3HC, for easing our mother’s transition of the last few weeks. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in her name to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Arrangements made by Edwards Funeral Home & Cremations. Online condolences may be expressed at www.edwardsfhc.com.