March 2004

Julianna Gillett was 'consummate educator'
By Charles E. Brown
Seattle Times staff reporter

For at least three months during the school year, when world-geography teacher Julianna Gillett couldn't be found in her classroom, there was a good chance she was in the school gymnasium.

That's because she also coached the girls basketball team at Lynnwood's Meadowdale Middle School.

Julianna Powell Gillett was a consummate educator, said her husband, Clayton Gillett. She also had a competitive spirit that loved to triumph and to see others do the same. "What drew her to basketball was the contact she had with the kids and the relationships you could build with them," he said. "With the kids, she made sure all of them played and had a chance to shine."

She also found time to plant flowers with her students in the school courtyard and to shepherd Meadowdale's Renaissance program, which awards prizes to students for achievement and improvement and recognizes excellence in teaching.

"She was the type of teacher that you wish you had a hundred of them in the building, and if you're a parent you wish all your kids' teachers could be like her," said Sue Bradshaw, the school's office manager.

When she first was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2000, she was determined to overcome it with chemotherapy and treatment, said her husband, whom she met and married after a yearlong courtship while they were students at the University of Utah. But the disease proved overpowering. She died at her Shoreline home early Feb. 11 at the age of 35.

Mrs. Gillett, who earned her bachelor's degree in history, had taught at Meadowdale for 11 years. She and her husband moved to the Puget Sound area in 1991 so he could attend graduate school at the University of Washington.

At Meadowdale, she was part of a teaching team of four. "She was very passionate about her job and her students," said Alisha Ackley, a member of the team. "She went above and beyond for her students. She was always putting in extra hours," said Ackley, who teaches English.

Mrs. Gillett also helped to get the nationally known "Renaissance" program established at Meadowdale.

As is frequently the case with cancer treatment, Mrs. Gillett's hair fell out. To give her support, her husband shaved his own head. "We were both bald at Christmas 2000," he said. "She thought it was great that I was willing to participate in her care."

And, she was very open with her students when they had questions about the illness and treatment, he said.

Despite the diagnosis, Mrs. Gillett mustered the courage to work during much of her treatment, her husband said. "She gathered strength from the students she taught and her strong network of friends and family that supported her."

The couple, married 13 years, had no children. Besides her husband, survivors include her parents, G. Lynn and Linda Powell; sister Jennifer Andrus and her husband, James Andrus; and grandfather Glen S. Powell. All live in Salt Lake City.

Memorials may be made to the Edmonds School District's Meadowdale Middle School Student Renaissance Fund, 6500 168th St. S.W., Lynnwood, WA 98037-2798.

Charles E. Brown: 206-464-2206 or cbrown@seattletimes.com

U-News & Views © 2004 - An online publication
by the University of Utah Alumni Association
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