Julia Bush Brubaker was born in 1926 in Birmingham, AL and died February 22, 2023 in Covington, GA. Though born in Alabama, she identified with Covington after moving there in the fifth grade. She had family roots and deep connections to many of the earliest residents of the town.
She graduated from Mary Baldwin college, and then the University of Alabama where she earned a Master’s degree in Art. That interest and passion informed the rest of her life.
Julia married Edmund Penn Jordan in 1949 in Oxford, GA and they moved to North Carolina and then Tampa, Florida where Julia became a high school then middle school teacher. She was the Yearbook editor for many years at Brandon High School, and she spearheaded the “Christmas Card Lane” in Tampa on the most prominent street of the town. Julia decorated the walls of the nursery at First Presbyterian Church in Tampa with her artwork. She expressed her love of art through her paintings of people, animals and through her decorations of houses and buildings.
Julia was a gifted seamstress who tailored men’s suits, her own clothes and those of her daughter, Amy. She made Amy’s wedding dress with her mother Eugenia Guinn Bush. She was a lifelong member of the D.A.R., First Presbyterian Church in Tampa and Covington, and a member of Colonial Dames. She and her sister Eugenia Bush Murphy pursued a passion for genealogy in numerous libraries, town halls and cemeteries throughout the Southeast.
Though Julia’s family roots go back four generations in Covington, she also deeply revered the town of Florence, Italy. Florence spoke to her on every level, and she shared that bond many times with friends and family. She was an avid traveler and she led middle school students on trips to share her passion for European art and culture with them.
Julia was predeceased by her husband John Getz Brubaker and her first husband Edmund Penn Jordan.
She is survived by her sister Eugenia Bush Murphy, her daughter Amy Jordan Guard and son-in-law Bruce Guard. She is also survived by her grandchildren Andrew Guard (Diana Croll-Guard) and Bruce Jordan Guard, and her great grandchildren Olivia Mary Guard and Isaiah Laurence Guard. Of special note is the close relationship she had with her husband’s children John Brubaker (Kathy) and Anne Filer (Dwight). She was also especially close to her niece Elizabeth Simonton Regan (Donald) and her nephew Abner Simonton (Jan).
Julia’s last years were enriched by the loving care she received at Benton House of Covington, Memory Care, and the attentive and caring staff of Southern Grace Hospice.
A small memorial service will be scheduled at a future date.
This obituary was prepared with love and affection by Mrs. Brubaker’s family.
Visit www.caldwellandcowan.com to place online condolences.
