By Dale S. Arnold: Julianne Brandes Owings, 78, died on January 5, 2025 at the Little Family Care in Baltimore, Maryland from complications of a long-term illness which brought on a terminal case of pneumonia. This illness prevented her from participating in conventions and other SF Fan activities for many years.
Jul served as program coordinator and/or literary program coordinator inventing panel topics for Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention, for 22 years — from Balticon 21 in 1987 to Balticon 43 in 2009. Jul was active on the committee of ConStellation, the 41st Worldcon in 1983. She stepped up to be the con-chair of Balticon 23 in 1989.
Jul and her late husband Mark Owings attended many east coast science fiction conventions until his passing in 2010, and both pitched in as volunteers whenever needed. She was known for starting conversations with the statement that she was just an old ex-hippie but… and then launching into a melodic discourse on some philosophical/historical topic leaving the listening fans enraptured and sometimes not quite sure how to respond. She was always a friend to everyone she met in fandom and is greatly missed.
A memorial celebration of Jul’s life will be held on January 25, 2025 starting at 7:30 p.m. inside the Baltimore Science Fiction Society Building in Baltimore, MD. Details at the BSFS website. All are invited.
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May her memory be a blessing – every Balticon attendee owes her a debt
A minor correction: Jul was 78, not 80. We shared a birthday, so I always knew exactly how old she was.
In 1998, when the Worldcon was in Baltimore, we moved the BSFS-owned wheelchairs from the BSFS Building to disabled services. Later that night, Jul, Jul Bemis, and I dragged our spouses to Baltimore’s Hard Rock Cafe, and all 3 of us danced on the table to celebrate our collective 138th birthday.
Also, I’d like to recognize Miriam Winder Kelly’s efforts to file for survivor benefits so Jul would have an income after Mark died, made a considerable number of phone calls to find a care home with a vacancy and would accept Medicare benefits, and arranged for paratransit to take Jul to/from BSFS meetings. As maddening as Miriam can be, she is a saint.
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@Eva: In her Chalion (and Penric) books, Lois McMaster Bujold establishes that saints can be maddening.
Jul was one of the sweetest people in fandom. She was particularly special to me. In 1994, at the Washington, DC, Mythcon, she helped me with an especially difficult personal issue, for which I am eternally grateful. Godspeed Jul.