Julia Elizabeth Pfau

Mrs. Julia Elizabeth Pfau, age 94, of Dahlonega, GA, passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

Mrs. Pfau was born in Mobile, Alabama on April 15, 1924 to the late Thomas Jefferson Grace and Elizabeth Cary Stone. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Louis Harris Pfau. She suffered an almost total hearing loss in her late 20's while pregnant with her third child. Despite this handicap, she raised five children with incredible strength, optimism and love. She also continued to work in her husband’s business, Signal Engineering and Sales, as secretary/bookkeeper. Later she received the first cochlear implant in Alabama.
 
Mrs. Pfau persevered, overcoming many obstacles, to receive a Masters degree in Library Science. She then worked at Lister Hill Medical Library at the University of Alabama in Birmingham until her retirement. She also volunteered at Grace Episcopal Church Woodlawn and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.  Mrs. Pfau was an accomplished seamstress and avid gardener, as well as the family genealogist. She was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who always put her family’s needs before her own. She always demonstrated unflagging optimism in the face of overwhelming adversity. Her love was ever present and available.

Survivors include her sons and daughters-in-laws Clifford Harris Pfau and Dana Hurst, Joseph Thomas and Nancy Henderson Pfau, Louis Edward Pfau and Ingrid Palominos, all of Birmingham, AL; daughters and sons-in-laws Ruth Elizabeth and Thomas Glenn Purcell, Dahlonega; Lucy Deforest and Father Deacon Samuel Woolums, Santa Rosa, CA; brother and sister-in-law Thomas and Sue Grace, Friendswood, TX; sister Cornelia Hickman, Knoxville, TN. Her twelve grandchildren are Alanna Pfau Mascaro and Elizabeth Pfau Myers; Natalie Pfau Litten and Rebekah Pfau; Celeste, Ingrid, Stella and Gabriella Pfau-Palominos; David Purcell; Helena, Louis, and Juliana Woolums, and eight great-grandchildren, Sebastian and Catalina Grace Mascaro, Bailey and Joe Meyers, Savannah and Bennett Litten, and Ava and Nora Kilpatrick.

The family will receive friends from 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM Thursday, April 11, 2019 at Anderson-Underwood Funeral Home, Dahlonega, GA, with the assistance of the Reverend John Hamilton of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Episcopal Church. Funeral services are scheduled for 11:00 AM Monday, April 15, 2019 at Grace Episcopal Church Woodlawn, Birmingham, AL. The Reverend Robyn Arnold will officiate. Interment will follow in Forest Hills Cemetery, Birmingham, AL, followed by a memorial luncheon at Grace Episcopal Church Woodlawn.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to Grace Episcopal Church of Woodlawn, 5712 1st Ave N, Birmingham, AL  35212.

To share a memory of Mrs. Pfau or a condolence with the family visit andersonunderwood.com. 

Anderson-Underwood Funeral Home of Dahlonega, formerly Banister Funeral Home