By Janet Perez | YourValley
Election night will be a bit anticlimactic for Queen Creek Town Council Member Julia Wheatley – make that Mayor-elect Julia Wheatley.
She ran unopposed in the Aug. 2 primary and after the council certified the results of the primary race, Wheatley became mayor elect. She also became only the second woman mayor in the town’s short history. She will be sworn into office during a January council meeting.
Here, Wheatley talks about how she became involved in politics, how she juggles her work and home life and her memories of her friend and mentor Mayor Gail Barney, who died in June.
How did you end up living in Queen Creek and how long have you lived here?
I was born in Mesa and grew up in Gilbert. I moved to Gilbert when there were just 5,000 residents. I was drawn to Queen Creek by the similarities of what I remember about growing up in my hometown, as well as Queen Creek’s own unique feel and attributes.
My husband and I chose Queen Creek when we bought our first home in 2007. We came out here looking at homes, driving along a road that then turned into a dirt road that then ended. Then something caught our eyes: a couple riding on horseback through the field in front of us. We fell in love with Queen Creek and decided to make it our forever home. We have loved being a part of this community, seeing it grow and prosper, and raising our four children here for the past 15 years.
