Julie Zarelli, an advocate for teens who helped establish Seahawks Academy, a Seattle public school for youths at risk of dropping out, died last week after a long illness. She was 56.

She never married or had children. Instead, she poured her time and money into her students, said her mother, Elizabeth Greenlee. Ms. Zarelli would cash her paychecks and be short of money soon after.

"Where's all the money in your pockets, Jules?" her mother recalled asking, because her daughter routinely financed her students' trips to clothing stores.

Ms. Zarelli, who was born in Everett, came of age during the civil-rights movement and President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty. She graduated from Shorecrest High School in 1966, got her bachelor's degree from Washington State University in 1970 and moved to Ireland to pursue an interest in Irish literature.

A year later, with a master's degree from University College Dublin, she returned home intending to teach honors English in high school. The Puget Sound economy was in recession.

The Seattle School District was in the early stages of desegregation: Students from the Leschi and Madrona neighborhoods were being bused to Eckstein Middle School. The school, which was almost entirely white before desegregation, saw its African-American and Asian-American student populations grow rapidly. By the 1977-78 school year, ethnic minorities accounted for almost 40 percent of Eckstein's enrollment.

It was a tumultuous time for students and their parents, and Ms. Zarelli, a school counselor, managed to thrive, not shrink from conflict.

Linda Lamb, a former Eckstein parent, remembered Ms. Zarelli as an outstanding individual who had the ability to help parents understand their teenage children.

"When I called my son in New York yesterday, he was so saddened to hear that she died so young," Lamb said. "He said, 'Mom, from my years in Eckstein there are probably two people who stand out, and Ms. Zarelli was one of them.' "

Seahawks Academy opened in the fall of 1997 at the Seattle Vocational Institute. The alternative school, formed with support from local corporations, offered students smaller class sizes, personalized instruction and free Seahawks football tickets as a reward for doing homework.

Betsy Hollingsworth, a Seattle University law professor and close friend, recalled how Ms. Zarelli would walk into chaotic classrooms.

"It was sort of like she had the gift of X-ray vision that allowed her to see into and through the layer of defiance, the barriers those children put up," Hollingsworth said. "She touched and helped change many, many lives and helped a lot of kids become productive citizens rather than the alternative they were heading toward without question."

A year later Ms. Zarelli was starting to see results: strong gains in student test scores in math and reading and decreases in suspensions, expulsions and dropouts. The school enrolled 145 seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders — two-thirds of them boys and 85 percent of them minorities.

She was known for keeping a jar full of cookies on her desk and for her keen appreciation for music: She played piano and the bass clarinet.

Ms. Zarelli suffered a brain aneurysm on Sept. 11, 2001, and had to retire early. She died last week from complications related to the aneurysm, Greenlee said.

There were three things she loved most in the world, Greenlee said: "The trip that she made to Jerusalem, and all of her children and Bible-study fellowship."

In addition to her mother, of Snohomish, she is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, the Revs. Elizabeth and Philip Turner of Belfast, Maine; a niece, Elisa of Belfast; stepbrother Tom Greenlee of Seattle; and his daughter Anu Greenlee of San Francisco.

A memorial service is scheduled at 1 p.m. today at Epiphany Parish of Seattle, 1805 38th Ave. Donations may be made in Ms. Zarelli's name to the Snohomish Community Food Bank.

Seattle Times staff reporter Warren Cornwall contributed to this report.