Julie Rubin

Julie Rubin passed away at her home in Aurora CO surrounded by her husband and sister Sue on Wednesday, June 11th, 2025 after a battle with cancer. A funeral mass will be held for her at All Saints Catholic Church in Holdrege NE on August 1st at 4:00pm with an Irish wake following at Sue and Ron Woollen’s home in Wilcox NE. Julie Ann Nickel was born on November 15th 1952 to Robert ‘Tom’ and Pauline (Mintun) Nickel in Kearney, NE. She was the 4th child of eventually 8 brothers and sisters and grew up on a farm North of Axtell, NE. She attended Axtell Community School, graduating in 1970. Julie was a grand champion black angus winner in 4-H. She was a drummer, and along with playing for the high school band, she played in other bands including Female Explosion (which was an all girl band that included Pam Anderson, Marilyn Berry and Squeak Erickson). She was also a member of Mother Rush among other area bands, where her dad served as the gatekeeper and bouncer. She attended Kearney State College and in 1972 she answered an ad placed by Chuck Black and moved to Denver, CO to play with him in a few different bands including Special Delivery and Jaava. At that time Julie lived in a basement apartment of the Black family and they became a second family to her and her entire family. She and Chuck collaborated together until the late 1980s. She worked a few different jobs during their downtime and after including some temp jobs and Safeway. In 1987, Julie met the love of her life, Stuart Rubin, at Little Bear in Evergreen CO! They were married in 1993 and enjoyed life together including traveling together to many places including Cripple Creek CO, California, Chicago IL, Florida, Vegas and Julie’s most favorite places, back home to Nebraska and Ireland! Julie graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in Speech Communications and worked for Developmental Pathways as manager of their senior daycare program and worked for Ironwood Insights Group taking surveys with people after their hospital stays. She was a member of Queen of Peace Catholic Church of Aurora CO where she also taught religious education. Julie was always the cool sister (she was a drummer in a band!!). She loved spending time with her husband and her family and friends. She was an amazing wife, daughter, sister, sister in law, aunt, cousin and friend. Julie is survived by her husband of 32 amazing years, Stuart Rubin of Aurora, CO, her siblings Bob (Zoee) Nickel of Littleton, CO, Den (Ardie) Nickel of Topeka, KS, Sue (Ron) Woollen of Wilcox, NE, Dan (Diane) Nickel of Lincoln, NE, Mary (Phil) Harris of Scottsbluff, NE, Deb (Josh) Osborn of Axtell, NE and Diane (Jim) Ketelsen of Seward, NE, brother in law Howard Rubin of Las Vegas NV, many nieces and nephews, grand nieces and nephews and grand grand nephews, cousins, Jean, Monica and Chuckie Black and friend Myla Ferguson and many other friends. She is preceded in death by her parents, her father-and-mother in law Hy and Ethel Rubin, sisters-in-law Diane Rubin, Lana Nickel, Barbara Blaine, niece Patty Harris, nephew Alex Woollen, grandniece Ashley Krause, friend and bandmate Chuck Black and her terrier mix companion Hawkeye.

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Julie Rubin

November 15, 1952 - June 11, 2025