Julia Kesler Hall, 79, passed away peacefully in her home in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. on Dec. 11, 2017. She is survived by her daughter, Stacey Elizabeth Brown Smith (Whitman), and her granddaughter Kesler Virginia Smith of Oxford, Miss., her brother Ralph Edward Kesler, Jr., niece, Sarah Swan O’Dea (Tod), great niece Darden Langley O’Dea, cousin Katherine Lanning West, nephew Ashley West (Andrea), and great nieces Halle and Caroline West, all of Raleigh, North Carolina.

She was preceded in death by her parents Ralph Edward Kesler and Helen Swann Kesler of Salisbury, N.C. Julia graduated from Boyden High School in Salisbury and attended Appalachian State Teachers College where she earned a B.S. degree in English. She earned a teaching certificate, and began teaching English at Burlington High School and later Goldsboro High School in North Carolina, where she helped shepherd the school through integration.

In Myrtle Beach, she met her husband Clayton Brown, who was stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. After his discharge from the Air Force, the couple married in Salisbury and moved to Pikeville, North Carolina and then on to New York City, where their daughter Stacey was born. From there, after moving to Dallas, Texas and San Pedro, Cali., she and Stacey returned to Salisbury where Julia earned a second degree in Social Work from Livingstone College. After living in both Spartanburg, South Carolina and Raleigh, N.C., she settled in Columbia, S.C. where she continued a 25-year career in Adult Education, selling adult education materials for both Steck Vaughn and Harcourt companies.

In 2003 she moved to Mt. Pleasant, S.C. She retired from sales in 2006 to enjoy easy living near the beach.

During her life, she was a teacher, friend to many, social worker, proofreader, paralegal, and salesperson of the year multiple times. She was a lifelong Episcopalian and served the church in many capacities including Altar guild. She was an avid reader, gardener, tennis player and loved being a grandmother to Kesler. She pulled for the North Carolina Tar Heels and reluctantly for the Ole Miss Rebels.

Julia lived a robust, laughter-filled life on her own terms. To honor her life, memorial gifts may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 930 Main Street, Salisbury, NC 28144 or to a charity of the donor’s choice.