The Life of Julia Greeley

Julia Greeley is a role model for all women and an inspiration for anyone facing poverty or hardship. 

Born in slavery in the 1840’s, Julia was brutally mistreated, leaving her disabled and half-blind. 

Determined to live as a free woman after the Civil War, Julia found work in Denver as a housekeeper. 

One hundred years later, Julia is still remembered for her great love of neighbor. Despite constant pain, she walked through the city bringing food, clothing, and the love of Jesus Christ to people even less fortunate than she. 

As it turned out, Julia’s quiet courage and hidden life did not go unnoticed. When she died on June 7, 1918, an estimated 1,000 mourners gathered spontaneously at her funeral, to pay their respects to a woman many called Denver’s “Angel of Mercy.” 

A Woman with a Wide-Winged Spirit

For years, Julia was a welcome and familiar sight on Denver’s streets. When she appeared, wearing her signature floppy black hat and lugging a little red wagon, it meant she was on her way to bring food, clothing and encouragement to somebody in need. “Old Julia,” as she came to be known, did her ministry at night, hobbling on a lame foot,  after she had worked all day as a housekeeper, cook and “nanny” to the prominent Gilpin family. 

“She was a woman with a wide-winged spirit,” wrote Frances Wayne, a Denver Post reporter who covered Julia’s larger-than-life funeral. Her legacy, Wayne wrote, included “eighty-five years of worthy living … unselfish devotion … and a habit of giving and sharing herself and her goods.”

Julia was born into slavery on a Missouri farm sometime in the 1840s. Her exact birthdate is not known. As a free woman after the Civil War, Julia took a job as a housekeeper, maid and unofficial “nanny” to the family of Julia Dickerson, a wealthy St. Louis widow and mother of four who married William Gilpin, the first territorial governor of Colorado. When Mrs. Gilpin moved to Denver with her children, Julia Greeley joined them. When asked why she came to Colorado, the spirited Julia replied: “I came out because I wanted to!”

In Denver, Julia lived in a tiny apartment in the city’s future LoDo are, near Blake and Walnut streets.  Through her work for the powerful Gilpins, Julia was connected by several degrees of separation with Denver’s influential and wealthy families. But her heart was elsewhere: She loved the poor, and she loved little children.  She was known as an especially tender and gentle “nanny” with the Gilpin children and the children of other families. In fact, the only known photo of Julia shows her, in her big floppy hat, cradling one of her young charges.  

Julia had a a great concern for firefighters, who faced intense danger every day. Lacking fire codes and safety materials, the combustible wooden buildings of the 19th century were tinderboxes. Julia would visit fire stations regularly, bringing prayer cards and the promise of prayers to the brave men who marched into the fire traps every day to save lives. 

Julia was also known for her commitment to her Christian faith. Of course, when she served the poor and indigent, Julia never questioned their creed or belief; all she wanted to do was lift up anyone who struggled and suffered as she had done. 

At some point in the 1800’s, Julia became a Catholic. Every day she trudged to daily Mass at her parish, Sacred Heart Church on Larimer Street. She lived a life of unshakable trust in Jesus Christ, and held a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which recognizes the heart of Jesus as filled with love for every human being. 

That love was part of Julia’s life as well. In what many regard as a fitting capstone to her remarkable life, Julia died on June 7, 1918, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And it was in Sacred Heart Church, her parish, that her unexpectedly awesome funeral was held.

Today, we at the Julia Greeley Home celebrate our namesake by honoring her legacy of courage, independence and her tireless motivation to help others improve their lives. 

Like Julia, we believe in the intrinsic worth of each individual, no matter what their background, creed or denomination. Our goal is to motivate each woman to become the kind of woman Julia was, a woman of independence, self sufficiency and integrity: “A woman with a wide-winged spirit.”