Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Los Gatos High School students Charla Zizzo (left) and Alexa Hyman stop to look at the memorial students created at the 7-11 store on Main Street in honor of Julia McCarty.

Friends create memorial

By Shari Kaplan

To her family, friends and coworkers alike, Julia Marie McCarty is remembered as being like a butterfly--a blithe spirit with a contagious smile who shared her good humor with everyone whose lives she passed through.

Her uncle Tam McCarty, a Los Gatos resident and police sergeant, recalled it said at his 17-year-old niece's funeral that "with some people, the room lights up when they enter. With Julia, she lit up the room."

Following her April 10 death in an automobile accident near Auburn, McCarty's friends put together a memorial that has stood for more than a week at the 7-Eleven store at 208 E. Main St.

She would often stop at the store for after-school snacks and say hello to owner Mike Stephens; he and his daughter Sherry have known McCarty for years.

"She was a very sweet girl and always had a calming effect on a crowd. Every time she came in, she had a smile from ear to ear--very bubbly personality," Stephens recalled. He said he had initially been approached by a few of McCarty's friends, who asked if they could put up a sign and some flowers.

The memorial slowly grew to include votive candles, balloons, a potted plant and more flowers, a seashell and pebble and a red happy-face stamp. Numerous handwritten notes accompanied the items, as well as a four-stanza poem, "To The One That Passed," signed by friends Rod and Keri.

"What really struck us about Julia is that she had this positive energy that everyone picked up on," said Lisa Tripp, co-owner of the Iron Skillet restaurant where McCarty worked as a hostess and was recently named Employee of the Month.

"No matter how busy or disorganized a shift was, she made the best of the situation and made everyone else feel better. She was a carefree, friendly person," Tripp added.

"She was the greatest person I ever knew," said Steve Lindahl, McCarty's boyfriend of three years. "Her presence will always be there; she'll always be in my heart."

McCarty, who would have been a third-generation Los Gatos High School graduate, was born July 13, 1978 in Anaheim, but spent her childhood in Milpitas and later in Los Gatos. She loved dancing and collecting anything having to do with elephants. Upon graduation from high school, she was considering studying to become a lawyer or an orthodontist.

Her great-grandparents, Dr. Jim and Clelles Ness, settled in Los Gatos in 1945 and were very involved in town activities: He ran a medical practice on E. Main Street and both belonged to the Holiday Circle social group, which Clelles began. The Nesses also donated property to the town, including the land where the Civic Center stands today.

Survivors include mother and stepfather Karen McCarty Goodman and Dan Goodman of Los Gatos; sister and brother-in-law Gaylene McCarty Kirby and Tim Kirby of Sunnyvale; stepbrother Daniel Goodman of Los Gatos; grandparents C. Gaylene and Theron P. McCarty of Atascadero; uncle and aunt Tam and Sheila McCarty of Los Gatos and aunt Shanon Avise of Mesa, Ariz.

Memorial services were held April 13, with interment April 16 at Los Gatos Memorial Park, where Julia was laid to rest beside her great-grandmother Clelles. Donations may be made to Hospice of the Valley, 1150 S. Bascom Ave. #7-A, San Jose, 95128.