One of Gainesville's most loved citizens died the other day. For those of you who don't know the background, Julie Reynolds had a problem when she was born. Let's put it this way: her thinking ability and her personality were normal, maybe even outstanding, but her body was destined never to grow.
So Julie ended up in a little fourwheel scooter chair thing, which she could navigate around with athletic skill, but her total height - chair and all - never got more than about 24 inches. It was a very rare kind of disability, and the doctors said she would never live more than 10 or 15 years. That was 48 years ago.
Julie made friends everywhere, and she went to school right on schedule. By the time she got to high school, somebody would always include Julie in the teen gatherings. She knew how to use the telephone, and probably knew more about what was going on than all of her high school friends combined.
There were bushels of Julie stories going the
rounds last week ... like the station wagon that was always overloaded with kids, and they would toss Julie and her scooterchair up in the back, and every time they rounded a comer they could hear Julie banging from one side to the other, and someone would say: "Julie, you okay?" And she would answer: "I'm okay." And go right on talking.
She graduated from college on time, and found ways to help others in life, but we all knew the heroes in this drama were her parents, Perrin and Jane Reynolds.
Everybody loved Julie. We couldn't help it. She had every reason to be gloomy about life, even bitter, but she wasn't. Amidst all her frustrations and disadvantages, she chose to be happy, and in so doing made us all happy with her.
This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.
Saturday
May 10th, 2025
1:57AM
