‘She was a really bright light.’ Whatcom minister, grandmother remembered
The family of Julie Montague-Ayers, the Whatcom County woman who was found dead after being missing for almost a month, is remembering the impact she left on her community.
Montague-Ayers was a mother, grandmother, sister, wife and ordained minister who loved to cook and bring people together.
“She had an open-door policy, so the more the merrier,” said Jody Montague, Montague-Ayers’s sister, in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. “Everyone was always welcome at her table.”
“People came from all over to help find Julie. People who didn’t even know her came together to find her. She would be happy to know that,” Montague said.
“I think she would love to know that people have come together in their neighborhood and care,” said her daughter, Erin Suda. “Everybody has been so supportive and willing to help, going out to hike the woods and look for her, put up posters, bring food over.”
Montague-Ayers was last seen alive around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, March 10, while on a walk with her husband of 28 years, Roy Ayers, in the Peaceful Valley area of Maple Falls. The pair became separated and when Ayers could not locate Montague-Ayers, who developed dementia in the last two years, he called the police. Her body was found in a wooded area off-trail on April 2.
Montague-Ayers grew up in Bellevue. She developed a strong spirituality at a young age.
Her daughter described her as the “do-everything-and-don’t-complain-about-it mom” who was working full time, taking care of her children and keeping the home together while being involved in the spiritual lives of her children.
“She created that sense of family. I felt that from her growing up — that friends, family and being together are the most important things,” Suda said.
Montague-Ayers went back to school to become a minister when Suda was in college and spent her later career in ministry service connecting with the church community.
She spent eight years of her early ministry career in Michigan before moving back to Western Washington to be closer to her children and grandchildren, according to her husband.
Montague-Ayers’s career continued in Port Townsend before she and Ayers pioneered a church together in Mount Vernon. Soon after that, she became a minister at a church in White Rock, B.C., and later at a church in Everett.
“It’s been quite an adventure and a journey,” Ayers said. “She didn’t stand still very long.”
In addition to spirituality, the pair bonded over music and traveling. They also loved to go on walks with their dog.
“If you spent a year with Julie, it could be compared to three to five years with somebody else,” Ayers told The Herald. “I miss her.”
Montague said her sister’s message to people would be to “relish in community and love each other as you would love yourself.”
Her family is planning to hold a public memorial for Montague-Ayers and expects to announce a date soon.
