Julie Christine Long

Julie passed away peacefully in her home in the early morning hours on February 1, 2020 after a 2-year battle with brain cancer. Julie was born December 21, 1963 in Bellefonte, PA to David Eugene “Gino” Hoy and Betty Marie Bingham. Her father was in the US Airforce, and when she was five, he was stationed at Goodfellow AFB and they moved to San Angelo, TX. This is where the family settled after Gino left the Airforce. She met and married Randall Long in San Angelo in 1980 and they were married for 17 years and had two daughters. Randall and Julie remained friends after their divorce. Julie began working at an early age. She worked in her grandparent’s restaurant in San Angelo and had several food service jobs before she was 16. Julie worked in Restaurant and Retail Management for most of her adult life. Julie met Ruth Ruzicka in Lubbock, TX in 1997. They were life partners for 23 years and were eventually able to marry in 2013 in a beautiful private ceremony surrounded by family and close friends. Julie and Ruth settled in Allentown, PA in 2002 where they built a tremendous circle of friends. In recent years, they opened their beautiful home through AirBnb and enjoyed meeting the people who rented rooms from them. Julie enjoyed life through food and fellowship. She loved to entertain friends and relatives at her home and she was well known for her culinary abilities. She was often noted for making the best brisket and ribs in Pennsylvania – a talent she brought back to Pennsylvania from her life in Texas. She enjoyed dining at Henry’s Salt of the Sea in Allentown, and it was the “go-to” destination for entertaining family and friends who came to visit. She also loved music and concerts and she and Ruth would frequently attend music festivals at the Bethlehem Steel Stacks. She also enjoyed traveling. She and Ruth traveled the country together and even did a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives road trip through the Great Lakes region. Julie infused flare and sass in every aspect of her life while displaying deep love and loyalty to her family and friends. She built meaningful relationships and was often a source of comfort and advice to those around her. Her cancer diagnosis in late 2017 was devastating, but like she handled every adversity life threw at her, she fought head on with a strength and determination that most could never accomplish. She and Ruth decided to leave their beautiful home in Allentown and move back to Lubbock in September 2019 so Julie could be near her children and grandchildren as the end of her life neared. She will be dearly missed. Julie was preceded in death by her parents, David Eugene Hoy and Betty Marie Bingham. She is survived by her wife Ruth Ruzicka of Lubbock, her daughter Camille Patterson and her children Zakery Warfel and Mary Warfel of Lubbock, her daughter Ashley Gordon and her children Harrison Gordon, Hunter Gordon, and Holly Gordon of Mangum, OK, and her brother Blaine Hoy of Ft. Worth, TX, as well as numerous extended relatives in various parts of Texas and Long Island, NY. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, February 8, 2020 in Sanders Memorial Chapel. Her family will receive friends before and after the service.

Julie Christine Long

December 21, 1963 - February 1, 2020