After nearly thirty-one years of service with NACM, Julia Buck, CGA will be retiring on Friday, August 29, 2025.

Any NACM member who has participated in its industry trade groups will know Julia as she has served as the Groups Coordinator since she started with the association. Julia has been the “face” of NACM for many as she has tirelessly sent emails and made phone calls to ensure group members submitted needed trade line data and to confirm attendance for the many groups she oversaw.

Julia has been fascinated to see how her job has changed over the years. Queries for group meetings were all done by mail when she first started. Her world changed when fax machines were introduced. After the advent of the fax, all correspondence was handled utilizing this more “immediate” form of communication. However, interestingly enough, she was not allowed to send any faxes during business hours as NACM did not want to slow members’ abilities to reach out to its office during the day. Now most communications are handled via email.

The variety of work is what kept Julia engaged for all these years. Most of her work was cyclical in nature, usually monthly, but it kept her work interesting. She enjoyed working with group members. When she was asked to be a backup to the group secretaries, she enjoyed being able to put faces to the names of the attendees she had been corresponding with for so many years.

Julia came to NACM after working with Kmart for seven years. Prior to that she was busy raising her two sons. She worked in a variety of positions prior to motherhood. She decided to re-enter the workforce when her boys started school.

Julia’s husband, Colin, will be retiring one week after her, after twenty-nine years with Blanchard Metals. He plans to spend more time restoring vintage cars. Julia says she is looking forward to taking each day as it comes without the rush to get to work.

Colin does plan to travel a bit after retirement, but Julia is not a fan of travel. She gets motion sickness very easily. As a result, she is content to enjoy her local surroundings and a slower lifestyle.

For those who are not aware, Julia is a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed in 2017 with melanoma cancer on her right heel. It took four surgeries to deal with that cancer including a skin graft that proved to be quite painful. Melanoma was later found on the left shin but, thankfully, she has been deemed cancer-free as she has now gone five years without any reoccurrence.

Those of us who interacted with Julia during that time of her life remember her having to use a walker and having to prop her foot up for many months while she healed. She is grateful she was not a heel model as she says the various surgeries have definitely left their mark on her.

Julia refers to her time with NACM as a “pleasure.” She appreciated working for a well-established company and the professionalism of those around her. She thinks of herself as a “worker-bee.” She enjoyed knowing her work contributed to the overall success of NACM and its mission.

Julia will be missed but we wish her well and many happy years of retirement.

Photos: Top left: Julia Buck in 2024. Bottom left: Julia Buck with NACM Member Sandy Brown in 1995