Julie Muhlstein retired this week after 40 years at the Herald. If you live in Snohomish County and read The Herald, you know who Julie is. Her 3,500 columns are a testament to her reporting abilities. Her columns highlighted local people, their lives, their aspirations and their inspirations.
Julie wrote each column with new zeal, excitement and freshness like it was her first one. As a reporter, her mannerism and style are unique. She let her subject do the talking as she took notes without interrupting them. She is a good listener.
She faced tragedies in life but kept on reporting on our towns and people. She lost her husband to a heart attack and an 18-year-old son to a drug related crime.
I came to know her when we retired from the restaurant business after 23 years. My wife Ruqqy and I were the owners of Boondockers Restaurant in Marysville (and Lake Stevens before that).
I remember Julie came in with photographer Dan Bates on Sept. 6, 2016, our last day in business. With her calm demeanor, she talked to us and took notes about our lives and family. She also talked to our customers coming in for a last meal or to say goodbye and wish us luck.
It was our story and she let us tell it in our words (“Customers will miss the Balas and Boondockers in Marysville,” The Herald, Sept. 8, 2017).
When she left after that interview, I felt like I had known her my whole life.
She will be truly missed by the readers of The Herald and all the people whose lives she touched with her pen and notepad.
Thank you Julie, and we wish you a very happy retirement. We have been retired for exactly four years now and I can say, it’s wonderful.
Shabbir Bala
Snohomish
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
