Julie Hendrickson Taylor, mother, real estate agent and resident of New Canaan for 65 years, died peacefully at her home on August 10, surrounded by family. She was 92.
Julie Hendrickson Taylor
Julie was born in Jamaica Estates, Queens on November 11, 1929 to Harriet Bevin and Arthur Ward Hendrickson. Julie adored her protective older brother, also Arthur Ward, and at the age of four, was given the unexpected and wonderful gift of an older sister, when eight-year-old cousin Catharine Bevin (known as “Kay”), became part of the family.
In her sister, she found a best friend and life-long confidant. The girls both attended the Cathedral School of St. Mary’s in Garden City, spent summers at Camp Farwell in Newbury, Vermont and at a beach house in Point O’ Woods, Fire Island. They each went to Smith College, as did their mother.
Julie graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and remained devoted to Smith throughout her life, attending almost all of her college reunions.
After graduation, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a receptionist at the Rockefeller Foundation and also at the department store B. Altman & Company. It was during those years that Julie met her husband-to-be, William Alexander Taylor (known as “Alec”), when she and two friends needed a fourth for bridge on a train ride to Cape Cod. Julie and Alec married in New York in 1955, settling into an apartment on Riverside Drive. They continued to play bridge throughout their lives.
Oldest son Peter Newton Taylor was born in New York in 1956, but it soon became apparent that it was time for a house with a yard. The couple moved to Hillcrest Road in New Canaan in 1957, building the first of many lasting New Canaan friendships there. Daughter Catharine Peale Taylor was born in 1959, and son William Howes Taylor in 1962.
In 1963, the family moved to Bridle Path Lane, where Julie (and Alec, who died in 2013), lived for the rest of their lives. The child-raising years for all in the neighborhood were a steady stream of comings and goings from one house to another of couples, children and pets, punctuated in the summers by constant trips back and forth to The Lake Club.
Eventually, as her children grew, Julie realized she wanted to return to the workforce, and with the encouragement of her dear friend, neighbor and mentor Trudy Carey, she took a part-time job at the New Canaan Book Shop on Elm Street. When Alec – a long-time advertising executive — left the structure of the corporate world in the early 1970s, Julie became a real estate agent, first working at Connecticut Homes in New Canaan before moving to Brotherhood & Higley several years later, where she continued as an agent into her 80s.
It was in this role that her love of New Canaan may have best shown itself. It gave her great joy to introduce families to the town, giving them the opportunity to raise their families in New Canaan as she had, and she loved watching the families she brought to town become part of its fabric.
During her decades in New Canaan, Julie was a member of both The Lake Club and the Country Club of New Canaan, the Congregational Church of New Canaan and the Junior League. She also served on the board of the New Canaan Nature Center, among her other volunteer work.
She was also a fan of the New York Mets through thick (and mostly) thin, having “adopted” them in 1969, after being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan as a child. But mostly, she was a diehard fan of her family – husband Alec; children Peter and Bill, both of New Canaan, and Catharine and husband Greg Farrell of Pelham, New York; and over the last few decades, her three grandchildren: Raphael Peale Layton Taylor (son of Peter) of Alton, Illinois, Samuel Hendrickson Farrell of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Irina Alexandra Farrell of Pelham.
Julie also loved nothing more than to look out at Alec’s beautiful backyard garden and watch the extremely active birdfeeder with a Mets game on in the background.
In addition to being predeceased by Alec, she is predeceased by brother Ward and wife Betty, and sister Kay and her husband Dutton. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her memory to Staying Put in New Canaan or the New Canaan Nature Center.
A celebration of Julie’s life will be held at the Congregational Church on Saturday, September 10 at 1:00 pm, with a reception following. For online condolences and directions please visit www.hoytfuneralhome.com.
I am SO SO sad to read this article. Julie was a great friend, real estate broker,
and person 😢
Peter, Cathy, and Bill – My deepest condolences on your mother’s passing. I have so many memories of the Bridle Path home, and your mother and father are deeply engrained in those memories, as is a snake named Sheba whose presence in your house was an indicator of how welcoming, tolerant and warm your mother was. I also recall her laughing when someone stranded their car at the bottom of your driveway. You mom was just a warm and wonderful person.
Our deep condolences. What a wonderful tribute to a remarkable lady. Peter and Nora
Julie was simply one of New Canaan’s finest. She made me feel welcome as a newcomer, helped us find our home, and was always kind and friendly through all my years in New Canaan. Thank you Peter, Cathy, and Bill for sharing her with us and for this loving tribute to your amazing mom. My heartfelt condolences on this tremendous loss.
My deepest condolences to Bill, as well as Julie’s entire family. Julie was a fixture in the New Canaan Real Estate Brokerage Community and will be missed by us all. She was always such a pleasure to work with and had the highest standards of care for both her clients and her colleagues. We will all miss her very much.
Julie’s daughter, Catharine, is my first friend. We’ve known each other since when I was born. That friendship is invaluable to me. I have such fond memories of playing at the Taylor house in New Canaan, baking lemon squares, playing Beatles records, building forts in the basement and “Mrs Taylor” was always right their supporting all of our adventures. She was such a positive person and role model for me. She will be greatly missed. Love to the family.