Julie Ann Burns

Julie Ann (Lasswell) Burns

November 16, 1958 - September 3, 2025

Julie Ann (Lasswell) Burns, 66, of Olathe, KS, died peacefully, surrounded by family, love, and music, on September 3, at KU Health Center – Olathe after a courageous battle with cancer.

Julie was born in Clinton, MO, the first of seven children of Howard Norman and Barbara Astrid (Hess) Lasswell. She attended her first two years of high school in Miami, OK, before moving to Clinton, MO, in 1973 following the death of her father. She graduated from Clinton Senior High School in 1976 and attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK.

Julie built a long career in professional development for clients across the United States, most recently at Elevate USA, where she served as Executive Director of Workforce Development before retiring in early 2024. Her loyal clients, ranging from financial agencies to universities, appreciated her extraordinary relationship skills, hard work, and determination.

Julie was a reflective artist, outrageous performer, quiet prayer warrior, and one-time football coach. She captured a sense of wonder, magic, and innocence in a lifetime of drawings and photographs. She could belt out Chantilly Lace and Bobby McGee and taught them to generations, and her alter-egos always found an audience, from Queen Jules to Nanny G. Julie’s prayers for peace and strength transformed her own life and the lives of countless others. Her career as “Coach Nanny” took a middle school football team to championship glory.

Julie always sparkled. Gunshot wounds, heartaches, heart surgery, and two cancers could not stop her boundless joy and effervescent spirit. It lives on in her family, to whom she was wholeheartedly devoted. They are her beloved daughter Neina Michelle Bennett and grandsons Jason Andrew “Drew” Roither and Tristin David Cummings; her siblings Kimberley McDowell, Kelly Moore, Joni Albrecht, Matthew Lasswell, and Shawn Lasswell, and their spouses and significant others; nieces and nephews Sarah (Long) Phiakeo and Nick and Alex McDowell, Michael Bollenbach and Kelsey (Bollenbach) Kincannon, Maddie and Jackson Albrecht, Autumn (Lasswell) Andersen and Mason Lasswell, Austin and Chase Lasswell, and all of their growing families; a host of cousins, aunts and uncles, and a community of friends, old and new, whom she counted as family. She is preceded in death by her mother, father, and their parents, her sister Linda Lee, and many beloved family members.

Julie will be remembered for her warmth, kindness, creativity, optimism and endless resilience. A mass will be celebrated in her memory at noon on October 24, at St. Paul Catholic Church in Olathe, KS, preceded by a visitation at 11 a.m. A celebration of life and burial is planned for springtime in Clinton, MO.

For those who wish to honor Julie’s memory with a gift, contributions may be made to KU Health System, 11300 Corporate Ave., Suite 240 Mailstop 9241, Lenexa, KS 66219-1374, which provided Julie’s care throughout her illness, or to St. Paul Catholic Church, 21650 W. 115th Terrace, Olathe, KS 66061.