Julia Taylor Cushman passed away on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2024, in Hoover, Alabama. She resided in the Assisted Living area Danberry at Inverness having moved there in June, 2019, from her longtime home in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Julia was born on Feb. 6, 1927, in Garanhuns, Brazil, to George and Julia Pratt Taylor who served as Presbyterian missionaries. Julia and her twin sister, Betty, had two older siblings, Aiken and Frances. After their father died of cancer 1936, the family returned to America and settled in Clinton, S.C. There Julia graduated from high school in 1943 and Presbyterian College in 1947. Then, she moved to Richmond, Va., where in 1949 she earned a master’s degree from the Presbyterian Church US Training School for Lay Workers. It was during this time she said that she came to saving faith in Christ while participating in a ministry trip from the school.
In 1953, while serving as the Director of Christian Education at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church near Chattanooga, she met (on a blind date) and later married Rev. Ernest Cushman, a young Methodist pastor in his first church in South Pittsburg, Tn. Over the years they served together in 10 churches in the Holston Conference of east Tennessee. During that time in the mid-1960s, Ernest was appointed to be the first chaplain at The Baylor School in Chattanooga, and there Julia served as an assistant librarian for several years.
Julia loved Jesus Christ. She was an affectionate and caring mother who had a wonderful heart for ministry. While serving as a pastor’s wife, she worked as a volunteer telephone counselor for CONTACT ministries in Chattanooga and as a leader in the Chattanooga-Lafayette Emmaus Community. In retirement she took several ministry trips - to Liberia, to Mexico and to sites in America. She was diligent in prayer and generous in financial support for numerous missionaries and ministries.
Julia was preceded in death by Ernest, her husband of 50 years, by her parents and her siblings. She is survived by her children, David Cushman of Greenville, SC, and his former wife, Ellen, by Mark Cushman (Leslie) of Birmingham, AL, by Kathy Crye (Hank) of Pine Mountain, GA, and by Liza Bisbee (Paul) of Bedford, VA. She dearly loved and prayed for all her grandchildren - Heather, Luc, Rebecca (Kevin), Chris (Tracie), Anna (Kirk), Matt (Coleman), Kate, Sarah, Emily (Jonathan) and Katie (Charles) – and her eighteen great grandchildren.
A Service of Remembrance will be held on Saturday morning, May 25, at 10 a.m. in the chapel of Hixson United Methodist Church, 5301 Old Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tn. 37343. Visitation will follow in the chapel. A graveside service will be held at Forest Hills Cemetery later Saturday afternoon - at 4016 Tennessee Ave., St. Elmo, Chattanooga, Tn. 37409.