Julia F. Hollister

Julia Frances Nankivell Hollister died May 16, 2014 as the result of a stroke. Born May 1, 1929 in Holden Massachusetts, she had recently turned 85. Her father died when she was a toddler and her mother died when she was eleven, leaving behind Julia's older sister, Edie Nankivell, and older brother, Denis Nankivell. As a result of being orphaned she began working as a nanny while she was a teenager to support herself and to have a roof over her head and food to eat. It caused her to have a strong work ethic and made her a very determined person. In spite of her circumstances she was still able to get into and pay for college and graduated from Furman. She had planned to major in music but had to take a different direction when it was discovered that she was tone deaf. In spite of that she sang frequently in church and for weddings and funerals She married Phillips Hollister in 1952 and they had a baby the following year. They traveled from church to church holding revivals until settling in Lowell, NC. In 1956 they moved to Charlotte, NC where she worked for several companies in the accounting department. In 1983 she began her own accounting and tax preparation business which she ran until 2011. Four years after starting her own business she developed cancer in her liver, pancreas and fluid around her lungs. The doctors gave her three weeks to live. Remarkably, she battled the cancer using all natural things and even 27 years later when she died she had no cancer. She felt God had allowed her to survive so she could help others battling cancer. As a member of the Cancer Control Society she would receive calls and emails from all over the world from people with cancer, or their family members to find out what she had done. She would always stop what she was doing to tell her story and answer their questions. Having lost her earthly father at such a young age, she looked to the Lord as her father and committed her life to him. She was always very involved in the church singing solos or in the choir, or teaching Sunday school. In her latter years she had taught Sunday school at Southview Church and 4 year olds at Sharon Baptist. She is survived by her daughter Hope Stephens and son-in-law John Stephens, four granddaughters, Tracy Yancey, married to Aaron, Kelly Stephens, and Erin Simons, married to Luke, and Brianna Stephens, and three great grandsons, Jayden and Camden Yancey and Warren Simons. Her great granddaughter Molly Stephens preceded her in death. -

Service Information

Saturday, May 24th, 2014 2:00pm, Southview Church

Interment Details

Private