Ms Betty (88) of Melrose, Florida After House Fire

Barbara (Betty) Julian (88), of Melrose, Florida, was at home the night of Friday December 11th, 2023, when her home suddenly burst into flames. Thankfully she was able to escape the fire, along with all of her rescue cats that she loves so dearly. Sadly though, Ms. Betty lost most of her belongings that she's collected over her long and interesting lifetime. I met Ms. Betty a few days before Christmas, after the fire, while walking through our neighborhood. She had just moved from living in a tent in her front yard to living in an old vacant trailer down the road, by permission of the owner of trailer who lives in Ohio. (The owner of the trailer inherited it several years ago, after her father passed away.) This trailer currently has no water, only a working freezer in the refrigerator, no gas for the heat or stove and only one electrical plug that works in the big Florida room that she is mainly staying in, that is in the front of the trailer. This room has large windows along the front of it and it makes you feel off balance when you're in it because it seems to be at a tilt. Ms. Betty has fallen several times in this room because it makes her feel dizzy getting around in it. I have been helping Ms. Betty to go through and remove any salvageable items throughout her burnt home and storing them in the tent she was staying in, which I moved to the backyard, in hope of having her burnt mobile home pulled out of there. Ms. Betty did not have insurance on her home at the time of the fire unfortunately and is on a fixed income, so she can't afford to have her burnt home removed from her property or put up a down-payment towards getting a new mobile home. She is such a sweet lady and I have been helping her in any way that I can, but I am only one person with very limited resources. I finally convinced Ms. Betty to let me make this go-fund-me page for her (Ms. Betty is not one who likes to ask for help), to see about getting her help towards getting her into a new home on her property, where she so desperately wants to spend the rest of her days, as worry-free as possible, taking care of her rescue cats that are her world. Please help Ms. Betty to raise the funds needed to get her back on her property, in a new home. It's terrible for someone to go through a devastating house fire at any age, but it has been extremely sad for me to watch a sweet little elderly woman go through this almost completely alone. I have grown very fond of Ms. Betty in the last several months that I've gotten to know her and I am now reaching out for help for her, out into the world of social media land. Thank you so much for any type of donation you can help Ms. Betty with.

Here is a litle backstory on Ms. Betty and her unique story she has to share with the world. Ms. Betty was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1936, raised in Jacksonville, Florida and moved to New York City, when she was out of highscool, where she was a June Taylor Dancer on The Jackie Gleason Show for four years. Ms. Betty also learned the art of yoga while living in NYC and, we believe, she may be one of the first people to introduce yoga into the state of Florida. After moving back to Jacksonville from New York, Ms. Betty married her late husband, Robert Julian, and also became Ms. Jacksonville in 1956 and 1957. She and Robert had two children, Robbie and Lianne, whom they both loved immensely. After becoming a widow in her early 50s, Ms. Betty made the decision to go back to school and she became an RN at the age of 54. She then became the head nurse on the surgical floor at Orange Park Medical Center for 15 years and retired at 75. She then moved to Melrose to take care of her elderly father until his passing at the age 103, almost ten yesrs ago. Ms. Betty has helped many people throughout her life, but sadly she does not have many people who can help her now, in her time of need. Both of her children passed away years ago, which has been completely devastating to her and something that is very hard for her to speak about. Many times I find Ms. Betty just sitting in a big recliner chair in the front window of the old trailer she's staying in, with a couple of cats around her, as she gazes out the window into the sky......and this hurts my heart for her.