Juli Ann Cragg Hilliard 1958-2020

Juli Ann Cragg Hilliard, 62, passed away October 18, 2020 at her home in Bradenton, FL, following a three-year battle with oral cancer.

Juli was born to Tom and Nita Cragg on June 11, 1958, in Moline, IL. She attended Greenwood Elementary School and Ophelia Parrish Junior High in Kirksville. Her sophomore year was in Story City, IA, before moving to Jamesport where she graduated in 1976.

Juli loved to read and write which led to a lifelong career in writing. She spent two and a half years at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph and worked for the St. Joseph News-Press while there and saw in print her first byline. She was accepted into the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she wrote for the Missourian. She worked as the United Press International news service reporter at the capitol in Jefferson City. Juli was also honored as a Bovard Scholar which led to a semester working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

While at Mizzou, she met and married Ken Rung in 1981, before completing her last semester of college. They made their home in St Louis where their daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1983. Juli worked again as a reporter for the Post-Dispatch.

Following divorce, she returned to the University of Missouri in Columbia and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Journalism. She began work on her Masters’ degree until 1987, when she accepted an editorial position with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. She worked as a reporter and had a regular column. In 1992, she and a co-worker were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a series on teen suicide.

Juli married Dozier Hilliard in 1994, and in 1998 after the birth of their daughter, Olivia, chose to work free-lancing. Her articles appeared in the Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Publishers Weekly, Beliefnet, Religion News Service, ReligionLink, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the St. Petersburg Times, the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Manatee Magazine and Sarasota Magazine. She had more recently authored some yet unpublished contemporary novels.

She had a talent for water coloring, basket weaving and photography but especially enjoyed ashtanga yoga and Zumba fitness dancing.

Juli had a strong faith and was an active member of Christ Episcopal Church in Bradenton.

Juli is survived by her husband, Dozier; her first daughter, Becky Stewart and her husband, Chris, and their son, Christopher; as well as daughter, Olivia Hilliard. She is also survived by her parents, Tom and Nita Cragg of Gallatin; her siblings, Jay (LeAnn), Chris (Susan), Melissa (David) Lowrey, Jeff, and Sarah (Jeff) Gilbert; many nieces, nephews, and large extended family.

Private graveside services with immediate family were held on Oct. 25, 2020, at Fogartyville Cemetery in NW Bradenton, FL. The family suggests memorials to Kickin’ Cancer with Kindness.