Juliet “Julie” Lamar

Juliet (“Julie”) Lamar, born in Dallas, TX, June 12, 1941, died on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in Raleigh, NC. Julie was the daughter of Henry Rawlins Lamar, a journalist in Dallas, TX, and later publicity director for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in New York City, and Nedra Newkirk Lamar, author and teacher, and founder of the Institute of Analytical Reading (IAR). In 1944, Henry, Nedra, and Julie moved to Riverside Drive in Manhattan, and later White Plains, Westchester County, NY, where Henry and Nedra enjoyed careers and friends and raised Julie and her brother, Austin Newkirk Lamar, who arrived in 1946.

Julie was raised in a home full of love, language, literature, and music. Julie loved reflecting on her childhood and Park Circle neighborhood, including a maple tree with a trapeze swing where she spent much of her time as a child, amazingly without injury.

Julie was a “50s girl” and dutifully attended ballet and violin classes, although she often said she would have preferred the saxophone and gymnastics.   Her childhood home bellowed classical music and opera and offered a curious vibe with images and busts of opera singers, philosophers, and canonical writers.  As a teenager, Julie loved walking to downtown White Plains, shopping at the B. Altman department store, and taking the train to New York City for bigger city excursions.

Julie attended Daycroft School, then in Stamford, CT, graduating in 1959. She happened to attend Scarborough Country Day School, Scarborough, NY, for her junior year, and met Gary Clifford White (1940-2019), who would ultimately become Julie’s first husband and father of Julie’s daughters, Kristina (Tina) and Devon. Julie attended Penn State University in State College, PA, from 1959 through 1961 and discovered life-long friends and big-school fun. She then returned to New York to study at Berkeley College, a school established in 1931 to train women for executive secretarial careers. At that time, she also worked in the B. Altman book department.

In 1978, after a move two years prior to Monroe County, PA, in the Poconos, Julie launched a career in real estate starting in Stroudsburg through which she met James (“Jim”) Kroculick (1939-2022).  Jim and Julie married in 1981. In 1982 they moved to Tyler, TX, where Julie’s parents had been enjoying their retirement years.  Jim, who had taught for nearly 20 years at Jim Thorpe High School, continued teaching in Texas at Van Senior High School, and Julie continued her flourishing real estate career.  

Julie loved all aspects of real estate and investment properties, but her passion was helping first-time home buyers and matching them with the “perfect home”.  In Tyler, Julie completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Tyler. Julie and Jim made many friends and enjoyed their time with Henry and Nedra and taking care of them in their final days. Jim and Julie also attended and made friends at the First Church of Christ Science, Tyler.

By 1999, Julie had four grandsons (Sean and Stephen in North Carolina and Brian and Eric in New York) and was ready to move back to the east coast.  Julie and Jim relocated to the Myrtle Beach, SC, area which provided a balmy coastal environment, plentiful golf options for Jim, and better proximity to grandchildren.

In their retirement years, Julie and Jim enjoyed traveling to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York to visit adult children and grandchildren, and making fun little stops along the way. Julie enjoyed the pool and sunshine, local music, and paused for the beauty of a live oak tree draped with Spanish moss. Jim enjoyed golf and volunteerism at Ocean Drive Presbyterian Church, North Myrtle Beach, SC. Jim passed away in Little River, SC, in 2022, and Julie relocated to Raleigh, NC, in July 2022. 

Julie had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh and loved those who also loved to laugh – a peculiar credential she even required of her doctors and care providers.  Her son-in-law, Cameron Texter, was a devoted care provider in Raleigh and often kept her laughing the most.  Julie was a deeply kind person who emulated the importance of empathy and compassion for others.

Julie died with family by her side on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in Raleigh, NC, at Falls River Court, Raleigh, under the care of Transitions LifeCare, and the staff of Falls River Court.  She is survived by her daughters, Kristina (Tina) Heath (Mark Nix), Wappingers Falls, NY, and Devon White (Cameron Texter), Raleigh, NC; grandsons, Brian Heath (Gwen Ferrara) and their daughter, Addison, all of Stormville, NY, and Eric Heath (Katie), and their daughter and son, Charlotte and Jack, all of Croton-on-Hudson, NY, and Sean Hickey (Yvonne) London, UK, and Stephen Hickey, Raleigh, NC and San Diego, CA; and Julie’s beloved brother, Austin Lamar, and sister-in-law, Linda, Temecula, CA, and many wonderful nieces, grandnieces and grandnephews, and cousins.

She is predeceased by her parents, Henry and Nedra (Newkirk) Lamar; an infant brother, Arden Rawlins Lamar in 1935, her first husband and father of her daughters, Gary, and her loving and devoted husband, of more than 40 years, Jim, and their sweet dog and pal, Buddy.

The family will hold a private service at the Ocean Drive Presbyterian Church in the Memorial Garden, North Myrtle Beach, SC.  Arrangements by Clancy Strickland Wheeler Funeral Home, 1051 Durham Road, Wake Forest, NC 27587. (919-556-7400). www.cswfuneralhome.com

In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for gifts in Julie’s memory to one of the following organizations: Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/);  Transitions LifeCare, Wake County, NC (https://www.transitionslifecare.org); Ocean Drive Presbyterian Church, North Myrtle Beach, SC (https://oceandrivechurch.org/); or another organization near and dear to your heart.