Julia Ann (Lorenz) Eaton

Julia Ann (Lorenz) Eaton, 97, of Bangor and South Brooksville, died peacefully on December 23, 2024 while in hospice care at her Winterberry Heights residence in Bangor. She was born February 5, 1927, the daughter of Otto Carl and Anna Liddell (Hill)Lorenz in Scranton, PA, where she grew up except for two years when her father's job took them to Europe, where they lived in Zurich and Madrid. She was an only child but had six cousins who spent summers together in Sargentville, Maine. She met Robert J. Eaton of Bangor and South Brooksville during one of those summers. They were married on June 23, 1951 at the Sedgewick Baptist Chapel. They were married for 59 years until Bob’s death in 2010.

Julie attended Skidmore College and was a 1949 graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University. She worked in publishing for Charles T. Branford Company in Boston before marriage. She was a Navy wife for four years, moving eighteen times, including living in Charleston, South Carolina., St. Augustine, Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana before returning to Boston when Bob was in law school; eventually settling in Bangor to raise their family.

Julie was the consummate homemaker, and very involved with the lives of her family and the City of Bangor. She created a wonderful and memorable childhood for her children, filled with traditions, activities and love. She had many volunteer jobs -- through the marvelous (as she put it) training of the Bangor Junior League. She directed many plays for the Children’s Theatre. She authored “Down East to Bangor” for Penobscot Heritage Museum (which she helped to found) and the Bangor School Department which to this day is taught in 3rd grade. She served on the board of the YWCA and wrote a history of the YW for the 75th anniversary in l989. She served as a trustee of Bangor Theological Seminary, and various boards including Bangor Childrens’ Home (now Hilltop School) and Phillips Strickland House. She enjoyed membership in P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter A and Shakespeare Club. She was a member of All Souls Congregational Church where she served on the Diaconate and volunteered in the soup kitchen. She was involved with the Bangor Speech and Hearing Center and the Cerebral Palsy Center where she led a cub scout troop. She was a member of the Buck’s Harbor Yacht Club where Bob served as Commodore from 1971-1973.

Julie or “Ju-Ju” to those close to her, loved first and foremost her family and spending time with them. Favorite places included the "Sea Chest," overlooking Buck's Harbor, and the Anchorage in Sargentville, overlooking Eggemoggin Reach. She enjoyed sailing and cruising the Maine coast with family, reading, knitting, sewing, needlepoint, genealogy, cooking, jigsaw puzzles, Solitaire, the daily Jumble. She doted on her many beloved dogs throughout her life. She loved British comedies on TV and watching U Maine hockey and basketball games. In her words, what she loved most was “the long summers of family doings -- the ocean and the woods.” She and Bob also enjoyed spending time every winter in Barbados with her Campbell family. She enjoyed the many friends she made at her residences at Solstice and Winterberry Heights in Bangor in these more recent years.

Surviving are two daughters, the Rev. Anna "Nancy" (Eaton) Butera and her husband, Nicholas, of Hudson, Mass., and Julia Ann Eaton, resident of Treats Falls House, Orono; one son, George F. Eaton, II and his wife, Carolyn, also of Orono; four grandchildren, Peter Butera and his wife Samantha (Chipman) of Hudson, Mass., Kevin Butera of North Attleborough, Mass., Allison Eaton of Colchester, Vt., and Geoffrey Eaton and his wife Madeleine (Piccus) of Marblehead MA; great-grandsons, Nicholas & Luciano Butera of Hudson Mass and Julian Eaton of Marblehead and great-granddaughter Camille Eaton of Marblehead, MA.

Julie is also survived by her step-sister Mary Elizabeth Parkhurst of Virginia and sister-in-law Cynthia Campbell of New Jersey, her brother-in-law, Dwight L. Eaton of South Brooksville and close friend, Alison Miner, of Searsport; cousins Rebecca Peck Peterson of California and Susanna Waterman of New Jersey and her many cousins-in-law and nieces and nephews.

Julie was predeceased by her parents Otto C. Lorenz, Anna Hill Lorenz Campbell and her step-father Andrew H. “Doc” Campbell, an infant brother, Peter Lorenz, her step-brother, Andrew H. Campbell, her brothers-in-law Franklin W. Eaton, and his wife Florence “Polly” (Perry) Eaton; Richard G. Eaton of Maryland; sister-in-law, Carolyn (Colburn) Eaton; and her step brother-in-law Richard Parkhurst; as well as her cousins, Walter L. Hill III, David J. Hill of Pennsylvania and Richard H. Hill of Blue Hill, and James K. Peck of Pennsylvania. 

A Celebration of Julie’s Life will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, January 3, at All Souls Congregational Church, 10 Broadway, Bangor, with the Rev. Chad L. Poland, pastor and teacher, officiating. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, at a later date. Those who wish to remember Julie in a special way, may make gifts to the Memorial Fund of All Souls Congregational Church, The Bangor Y, or Treats Falls House Inc., P.O. Box 457, Orono, ME 04469. Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.