Julia M. Perez, former nurse and mental health worker, known for her generosity, dies at 87

Julia Mae Perez, 87, of Philadelphia, who for years worked as a nurse and mental health therapist for disabled children and adults, died Friday, Feb. 7 of atherosclerosis at the Edgehill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Glenside.

Mrs. Perez was the second of six children born to the late Julian and Martha Harris. She attended Philadelphia public schools. After graduating from high school, she worked for several years as a practical nurse.

She later earned an Associate’s Degree in Mental Health Therapy from Community College of Philadelphia. With that degree, she worked for both United Cerebral Palsy and Northwest Centers, helping to treat disabled children and adults.

Mrs. Perez was baptized in the Catholic faith and remained a devout Catholic all her life, said her daughter Lonna Evans.

As a younger woman, she was an active member of St. Athanasius Church in West Oak Lane. Later in life, after moving in with her daughter, she began attending St. Raymond of Penafort Church, in East Mount Airy.

Evans said everyone referred to her mother by the nickname, “Juju” — what her granddaughter, Cheryl, called her as a toddler because she could not pronounce Mrs. Perez’s first name.

Mrs. Perez was not only a caregiver in her profession as a nurse and mental health therapist, but she also was known to take care of elderly family members and to give generously whenever anyone needed financial help.

“If all my mother had was $5, and you needed money, she would give you every penny of it,” Evans said. “She never cared about material things. She wanted to help people.”

Evans said years ago as a younger woman, she thought her mother gave too generously to some people.

“But as I got older, I came to understand that this was my mother’s faith,” Evans said. "She really believed God wanted us to serve other people. She really was a great lady."

She also was a godmother to many of her grandchildren, nieces and nephews and taught them how to pray.

In her spare time, Mrs. Perez loved to travel and had visited Europe, the Caribbean Islands and Atlantic City. She also enjoyed working as a volunteer at the polls during elections.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Perez is survived by two granddaughters, four great-grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were Friday, Feb. 21.