Juliann Dahms

On June 18^th, 1958, Arlo and Elizabeth (McKinley) Dahms welcomed their sixth daughter into their family. They named her Juliann “Juli”. She had five big sisters Jayne, Roberta, Susan, Arlene, and Arla-Beth.  Juli had to be a tiny fighter. Due to complications at birth, Juli’s weight dropped to three pounds. Both of Juli’s lungs had collapsed and her brain was deprived of oxygen. She had to be put in an incubator for some time and gain weight before she would leave the hospital. When she finally came home, her sisters thought they had received a beautiful baby doll. As Juli got older, she was found to be deaf. It made Juli’s life much harder. Doctors and her family didn’t know if her difficulty in learning was from the lack of oxygen at birth or her deafness. Juli and her family learned to communicate in their own way. She did learn to play with toys and enjoyed picture books, etc., and was a happy little girl.  Juli took a bus to River Hills in Cedar Falls when she was older. After finishing there, her mom and dad thought she should go to a place where she could learn social skills and be with more people, instead of being alone with them on the farm. Juli was placed in the care of Exceptional Person. She was there for many years. Over the past two years, Juli has been in the care of Full Circle.  She loved her family and enjoyed her housemates and game shows on T.V. She liked to attend social activities at EPI, Day Hab and social events at Full Circle. Most of all she enjoyed hanging out, drinking coffee and people watching.  Juli died at the age of 64 on June 3, 2023.  She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Susan Stedman; brothers in law, Terry Blohm, Dale Folkerts and Robert Stedman.  Juli is survived by four sisters, Jayne (David) Draper of Traer, IA, Arla-Beth Folkerts of Grundy Center, IA, Arlene Blohm of Traer, IA, and Roberta Hensley of Sulligent, AL, and their families.  This last year was a very difficult one for Juli and her caretakers. Although it was hard to lose Juli, we know God loves her and his plan was the very best one for her. We have the joy of knowing that because of Christ, we will see Juli again, and know on her 65^th birthday (June 18^th), she will be with people she loves, and she will hear them sing, “Happy Birthday Juli!”