JULIE HOUSTON CHILDRESS

Julie Marie Houston Childress, age 46, of Blakely, GA passed away Tuesday morning, March 22, 2022 at Southeast Health in Dothan, AL. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 2:00 PM at Springfield Baptist Church in Jakin, GA. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Springfield Baptist Church 6677 Hwy 39 Jakin, GA 39861. Julie was born in Dothan, AL to Julian Wayne Houston and Charlotte Whitehurst Houston on October 28, 1975. She was a graduate of Early County High School Class of 1994. She attended The Baptist College of Florida and received a degree in Christian Counseling in 2001. She spent several years employed as a social worker with the Department of Family and Children Services where she loved working with foster children and foster parents. She had a special place in her heart for teen foster children. Julie later became an entrepreneur in graphics design and began her business, Whimsicality Graphics. She started a Facebook group for crafters and managed her group of over 16,000 crafters. Julie later started a store on Etsy where she sold her graphic designs all over the world. She has designed for many local businesses in our area. In 2020, Julie began her career as author, Bliss Carter. Her bio reads that she is a debut author with a flare for the sarcastic, funny, and flirty. She is southern to the bone and a straight shooter, saying what she thinks without hurting feelings. Bliss published a total of eight books since spring of 2020. The books are available on Amazon in print and Amazon and Kindle for downloads. She sold books and graphics all over the world. She treated each customer as if they were her neighbor and friend. Julie also loved her community and was instrumental in keeping everyone up to date on needed information after Hurricane Michael. She continued to post through social media sharing community information and weather information up until her death. Julie was a member of Springfield Baptist Church. She loved and trusted the Lord and had a passion for sharing her faith and helping others. She was a prayer warrior for many people and she truly prayed for their needs fervently. She shared favorite Bible verses throughout her social media accounts on a regular basis. God had given Julie the talent of an angelic voice and the love of music. She began singing as a small child and enjoyed performing in school, church, and weddings. In 1999, she published her own tape of favorite Christian music. She has blessed many people with her gift of music. Julie will be remembered as a loving and devoted wife, step-mother, grandmother, beloved daughter, sister, and aunt. Julie is survived by many loving family members, including her husband Jeff, stepchildren, Alan Childress and Elizabeth Childress of Cairo; her mother and father, Julian and Charlotte Houston of Jakin; siblings, Tonja Bridges (Chas) of Damascus, Stacie Dowdy (Chris) of Colquitt, Charla Jackson (Jim) of Lake City, FL, and Heath Houston (Catea) of Powder Springs, GA. Nieces and nephews surviving include, Madison Bridges, Logan (Garrett) Vann, Sutton Bridges, Ethan (Kaitlyn) Cody, Dylan Cody, Addie Cody, Jasmine Rathel (Mason), Jacob (Brittany) Jackson, Morgan Jackson (Phillip), Hannah Houston Christian), E.J. Houston, Riley Houston, Kaden Houston, and Audrey Houston; her grandchildren, Kaden and Ellie, as well as numerous great nieces and nephews.