Julie Rose Ettesvold was born on April 8, 1959 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Kermit and Joan Ettesvold. A year later her family moved west to Port Hueneme, California, where Julie spent her formative years.  She attended Hueneme High School.

She graduated from nursing school at California State University Long Beach in 1980. She married Richard Wong in 1983 and raised two much-loved children, Melinda and Curtis Wong.

After graduating from nursing school, she worked as an R.N. at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center for several years, then became a hospital nurse for an internal medicine group, followed by several years as a Critical Care R.N. at Huntington Memorial Hospital.  She was as a nursing instructor at Citrus College in Glendora for the last 27 years.

Quick to laughter and a master storyteller, Julie had a knack for setting people at ease in otherwise stressful situations. She leaves a significant legacy in the hundreds of nurses she trained over nearly three decades. Her students have helped shape the modern culture of American healthcare in California and nationwide. A popular and memorable instructor, Julie was a master at combining infinite patience with a strict adherence to regulations and standards. She had the ability to determine her students' motivations and areas of challenge to provide the most enriching and impactful educational experience possible. Her expertise and talent will be long remembered as a model of truly purposeful teaching: not only to instruct, but to inspire, motivate, and instill passion in those she taught.

Julie understood well that leadership by example is the very definition of real leadership. This was evidenced most recently when Julie selflessly spent considerable time in Idaho in 2018 helping her terminally-ill mother complete her life's journey at home in accordance with her wishes. We would all do well to remember the lessons Julie taught us and interact with each other with grace, kindness, and humility.

Julie passed away February 7 following a brief illness. Our joyful and gentle mother, sister, friend, teacher, and mentor will be dearly missed by those fortunate enough to have had her presence in their lives.

Julie was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her daughter Melinda and her son Curtis, her grandchildren: Matthew, James, Danielle, Joshua, Isaac, Diego, and Adam; as well as sisters Kae Connors and Lisa Edwards and brothers Mark and Eric Ettesvold.

(Heartfelt thanks to Julie's brother Mark who prepared the obituary with thoughtfulness and eloquence)