Julie A. Karlbom

Our lives were forever changed on December 15th.  Our mother, grammy and friend Julie Karlbom passed away peacefully due to unexpected medical complications at the age of 81. She is survived by her daughter Karen Heldt, her son-in-law Steve and grandchildren Madison & Jacob and by her brother Robert Lipps.  She was preceded in death by her parents Viola and C.G. “Skipper” Lipps and her daughter Kristen Karlbom.
Julie was born and raised in Abilene, Kansas.  She was the daughter of Viola and “Skipper” Lipps.  Julie attended Baker University and graduated with a B.A. in Education.  Julie taught developmentally delayed children in Colorado and continued teaching after moving to Oregon. Julie lived out the remainder of her life in Hillsboro. She was married, divorced and had two daughters.
Professionally Julie founded and worked as the Director of the Washington County Alcohol Education Program for 27 years. Julie worked part-time for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office first as a deputy and in other roles for 29 years. She would comment frequently that in her job capacity she worked with multi-generations of families, whether it be through their time of success in her treatment program to being at their lowest point in jail, she knew and cared about many of her past clients. Community service was of importance to Julie as well. She served as a Commissioner for the City of Hillsboro Parks board for 27 years and donated time to the Hillsboro Police Department on their selection board.  She was also an active participant in Alpha Epsilon.
Julie loved spending time with her family and friends.  She loved to travel. She traveled abroad to Japan with Kristen and to Europe with Karen. She also took her family on several cruises, to Disney parks and to Maui, one of her favorite places. She was a very dedicated Grammy known for spoiling her grandchildren and loved them dearly.  Julie loved spending holidays with her son-in-law’s family, who took her under their wing and always made sure she was included and felt loved. A fond memory was a stormy Thanksgiving spent at the beach with all of the family.  Julie belonged to a group of long-time friends named the Ya Ya’s.  They were all wonderfully supportive of one another through the years and for her a perfect day would be having the Ya Ya’s over for lunch and spending the afternoon playing Bridge. She also had the honor of being known affectionately as Aunt Julie (AJ) to the Schmidt family, who were family to us and were there through the good times and in times of sadness.
Julie was taken from us very unexpectedly and we are all broken-hearted.  To be honest she never planned on dying as she never considered herself to be one of the “gray hair women” or even “old”. Julie was an exceptional role model to her daughters and raised them to be strong, assertive and confident, demonstrating these qualities through her strong work ethic, her ability to show empathy to others as well as her ability to openly share her advice and opinions, when they were wanted or not.  She wasn’t afraid of standing up for herself and others and was admired for her tenacity.
Julie had a difficult time after a fatal auto accident took Kristen in 1996.  A piece of her heart was forever taken that day and every year around the holidays was an especially hard time for her.  Her family is comforted knowing that she has now joined her daughter in Heaven.  The family asks for any donations made in Julie’s memory be given to the Make A Wish- Portland Chapter, as both of her grandchildren were recipients of special wishes.
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