Julie McClure dislikes the limelight but she is so deserving of the honor of being chosen as one of the Women’s Resource Center of Manatee’s 25 Wonder Women.

In 1992 Julie was elected to serve as the State Representative for District 68, serving one term in the legislature she served on the Basin Board, the Florida State Elections Commission and Florida Committee to select appointees to the Florida Public Service Commission. In her own words “I believe when anyone is lucky enough to have been born in America, it is an obligation to try to help people who were not as fortunate to have had all the advantages I did and do what I can to preserve our history and protect our environment.”

Preservation of history is one of Julie’s passions – graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX Julie runs her own professional appraisal and sales business specializing in American, English, Continental & oriental furniture, porcelain, pottery, silver, glass, and paintings. This love of antiques and collectibles led her to serve on the executive board of the South Florida Museum & Bishop Planetarium for twelve years, for eight of those years, Julie organized fundraising auctions to benefit the care of collections at the museum.

Julie’s love of community and preservation is evident as one of the founding members of the Palma Sola Botanical Park, serving as Park President, she has also been a member of the Manatee River Garden Club for the past 40 years, serving as program chairman and vice–president. Julie’s other community commitments include ten years with The Girl’s Club and three years with the Sarasota Women’s Exchange.

Her favorite quote:  “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”  Mark Twain