Julia was always a tall girl and was also a bit of a tomboy. She was very social and always wanted to be playing. She would gulp down her food at mealtimes just so she could go play. She was very athletic when she was young, but also had quite good dramatic and verbal qualities as well. Though Julia was considered by her parents to be the “wild” one of the three children, she was never in real trouble. She had a very normal childhood.
Julia’s parents enrolled her at a local Montessori school when she was four. She learned very good coordination here, not knowing how important that would become in her career choice later in life. Julia’s family had large Sunday dinners every week, prepared by the cook they were employing at that time. The family had many different cooks over the years, but in those days food was not thought of as being pleasurable to prepare. It was more of a science.
When Julia was a teenager, she was sent to boarding school. She studied French while there and also worked on and developed her writing abilities. When it was time for her to enter college, she went to the same school that her mother had attended. This had been decided since Julia was very young. So, Julia went to Smith College. She was impressed by Smith’s size and relished the freedom she had being there.
Julia’s main priority in college was once again being social. She didn’t keep her social life from interfering with her studies, though. She continued to study French and also took two years of Italian. During her junior year, she decided to declare the major of history. Going along with her “social butterfly” status, she joined a group of students in campaigning for the repeal of prohibition during her senior year. When she graduated, she still had not decided what she wanted to do with her life.
She thought about becoming a journalist, but decided against that idea and moved to New York. There she had a number of jobs, including working in a home furnishing firm. She eventually moved to Washington, D.C., during World War II, to work for the Office of Strategic Services. While working in Washington, she traveled to India and Sri Lanka. It was during this trip that she met Paul Child. Paul was quite a bit shorter than Julia and quite a bit older then she, too.
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