Julie Backus Smith Memorial Scholarship

Julie Backus Smith was born on August 12, 1946, in Atlanta, Georgia. She spent most of her youth and adult life as a resident of Savannah. A graduate of Savannah Country Day School, she attended Mary Baldwin College (Staunton, VA) and went on to graduate from the University of Georgia with a degree in special education. Following graduation, she began her career as a teacher. The majority of Julie’s subsequent career was devoted to her family’s business in Savannah, Backus Cadillac-Pontiac. Along the way, she also spent many years as a downtown tour guide, a community ambassador, sharing her love for the history, culture, and beauty of Savannah’s Historic District with countless thousands of area visitors.
Long active in civic affairs, Julie Smith made a major commitment of her time and limitless energy to the voters of County District # 1 when she was elected to represent them on the Chatham County Commission, where she served with distinction from 1988 to 1992. Following her Commission service, she was appointed by Chatham County to a term as the board of directors chairperson of the Tidelands Community Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Center.
In other community activities, Julie served for many years on boards and committees of the Telfair Museum of Art, Backus Children’s Hospital, and the Matthew Reardon Center, to name but a few. Additionally, she was a long-time advocate with the Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy initiative, volunteering her time to work on behalf of those area residents in need of health, housing, legal or other forms of assistance.
Along with her commitment to citizen advocacy, Julie Smith was a long­time active advocate for health and fitness. And here, as with all of her community activities, Julie led by example. An avid runner, she was a founding member of the Savannah Striders. Among the many marathons she had run over the years, she was perhaps most proud of her participation in both the 1979 and 1980 Boston Marathons, where she became the first woman from the Savannah area to enter and complete that prestigious event. At one time, in fact, she earned the distinction of being Savannah’s fastest female runner. Later, at age 55, she ran the Disney World Marathon in Orlando.
Since her youth, she had been a devoted member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Savannah, continually volunteering her time and talent to parish needs and events. And with other spiritual faithful, she traveled several times to Central America on missions trips, bringing new hope and happiness, especially to low-income rural youngsters.
Julie was the oldest of George and Marie Backus’ six children. She was the proud mother of a daughter, Jean. Julie Backus Smith passed away in Savannah on December 22, 2003. She was 56 years of age.