Julie Enna Gent

Julie Enna Gent, age 82, passed quietly on the evening of September 7, 2021, overwhelmed by the ravages of 25 years of untreated diabetes followed by nearly 15 years of hemodialysis. She was an outgoing and fun-loving person; born on the third day of March, she celebrated her birthday for the entire month. Julie's resilience served her well as she encountered several setbacks in life. Her primary sources of joy were her two children and three grandchildren, followed quickly by her large coterie of friends, a collection that grew throughout her lifetime. She also enjoyed visiting the ocean, writing poetry, making speeches at Toastmasters, volunteering as a reptile docent at the Houston Zoo, and traveling to Rockport to view migrating birds. She was enthusiastic about holidays, and could be found at any age wearing red hearts on Valentine's Day or green clovers on St. Patrick's. Julie's mostly normal childhood in Marshall, Texas was punctuated by several setbacks, the most searing of which occurred at the age of 13 when her beloved father, Frank Weidman, died of cancer, leading to the dismissal of her lifelong caregiver Annie and, soon after, the addition of a stepfather. As an independent and ambitious HS senior in 1957, she was offered a full work-study scholarship from a northern school, but her parents forbade her to leave Texas; being a spirited soul, she instead got married in January of her senior year, and her first child, Jo Ellen, was born in September in Waco, where her husband, "Joe" Stewart Gent, attended Baylor. James arrived six years later. Julie enjoyed being a devoted wife and stay-home mom in the cocoon of our nation's most prosperous decades. She especially loved the convenient packaged foods emerging at the time, and the fabulous new medium of television. She was a voracious reader and a regular volunteer at school and after- school activities, particularly Girl Scouts. Her life seemed perfect, yet she was plunged into divorce proceedings in 1975. She rallied to start the first paid job of her life, as a telephone switchboard operator, and over the years found better jobs, ultimately becoming a legal secretary at Chevron, from which she retired in 1999. Chevron provided her with a pension, retirement savings, insurance, and many loyal and devoted friends. Julie thought early retirement would allow her to travel the world, but sadly, the passport she received in 1999 was never to be used. She always had a strong belief in willpower, but that turned out to be a weak weapon in the fight against diabetes, diagnosed in her late 30s and subsequently ignored. Her body started breaking down almost immediately upon retirement, leading her to recommend *not* retiring to anyone who asked thereafter. Nonetheless she enjoyed 22 more years, living on her own as long as she could, then in 2013 moving into Treemont Assisted Living. There she made another group of friends and renewed some very old friendships with neighbors and with congregants at the West University Baptist Church, which she and Joe had attended while raising their children. Her only regret about this move was that she could no longer provide a home for James, who struggled with addiction. Her unquenchable optimism about him was ultimately rewarded when he later beat this demon with the help of his partner Keira and conversion to Catholicism. "Gammie's" three grandsons, Liam White, Aidan Gent, and Jared Gent, all born in the 1990s, graduated from high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, and she was able to visit regularly as well as to attend all three HS graduations as well as Liam's college graduation in Maryland, managing hemodialysis on the road and eventually staying in handicapped-accessible hotels as her disease progressed. She was a spunky traveler, eager to visit despite increasing vision and mobility loss, and was resolutely upbeat on these trips. Eventually she had to move into the skilled nursing unit at Treemont, where she was blessed with a creative and skilled caregiver, Margaret Clark, who helped her with everything from bathing to holiday decorations until Covid hit. The social isolation of the pandemic was tough for Julie, deprived of her caregiver, roommate, and visitors. As her health declined she was shuttled to multiple hospitals as well as making three weekly trips to a dialysis center, but her inspirational constitution allowed her to resist Covid until 2021, when she got a mild, post-vaccine case. The passing of James last November was a blow from which she seemed to recover, but was perhaps a factor in her deciding she was ready to go ten months later. Julie is survived by her daughter Jo Ellen Gent, her son-in-law William White, her brother Jon Weidman, her sister-in-law Mary Weidman, her grandsons mentioned above, and James' partner Keira Knecht. Please consider contributions to the Houston Zoo Fund in Julie's memory. Donations can be made online at https://p2p.onecause.com/houstonzoofund/donate The Gent family will be present to receive friends Thursday, March 3, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM in the Auditorium at Treemont Senior Living, 2501 Westerland Dr, Houston, TX 77063. A Memorial Service will begin that same afternoon at 4:00 PM.

Julie Enna Gent

March 3, 1939 - September 7, 2021