Julia was my dearest friend, lover, artistic collaborator. After a lengthy battle with multiple recurrences of breast cancer, she died on August 16, 2001 at the age of 51. Words like "valiant" and "courageous" hardly begin to describe her in relation to her illness. Many who knew her had no idea that she lived with cancer. She was always outwardly upbeat, cheerful, and friendly to everyone. She had a profound compassion and interest in people, and where ever she went, she made friends and added a rare brightness to everyone's lives. The photo above was taken in Spring 2001, at Tilden Park above Berkeley. (She is playing with dried thistle earmuffs.)
She had intended to post some pages on "our" web site. I am picking up where she left off, and have posted them pretty much as she left them. The three web pages she drafted, with some of her photos and words, are posted here:
Julia Oesterle Personal Web Pages
Her last résumé (dated February 2001) is posted HERE.
I have also posted miscellaneous pictures of Julia on a separate page HERE.
Some scans of her work are also posted HERE.
Below is the obituary that Julia's brother put into a local Indiana newspaper:
Julia
Oesterle died August 16th in Santa Clara, California after a 13-year
battle with breast cancer.
She was 51 years of age.
Julia was a 1968 graduate of West Lafayette High School.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Purdue, where she
was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and Mortar Board.
She received a Masters degree in Photography from Ohio University and a
Masters degree in Anthropology from Purdue.
Her daughter, Briana Oesterle of Bloomington, her mother Phyllis Oesterle
Kilsheimer of West Lafayette and her brother Stephen in Boston, survives Julia.
Copyright © 2001 Rick McGowan