Julie, a lifelong friend called one Christmas to say she had been sick and treated for the flu. More tests were run, and she had just received the lethal diagnosis of glioblastoma. She told me, “It’s not good, but it’ll be okay.” I dropped everything and drove to the west side of town to see her. When I walked in, she was sitting in a chair with a smile on her face and said, “we sure had fun.” That was Julie, always positive, always smiling, always with a strong faith in God. I met Julie in the first grade at St. John’s in Deer Park, then off to Mount Notre Dame, then college, marriage, children, and she never changed and her faith in God only got stronger. You could feel it when you were with her, you could see it when you were in her home or car, crosses, statues, rosaries & holy cards taped to kitchen cabinets and the sun visor. When she passed away 7 weeks later, I was struck by what I could do to memorialize her, she was so special. Then it came to me, a named endowed scholarship to MND to help a deserving young woman experience an education at Julie’s alma mater …. and I could feel Julie smiling. I was blessed to have Julie as a friend. – submitted by Eileen Duermit Lakin ’62