Phish, The Pixies and Joplin serve as anthems for Hanahan woman found dead in early July

Hanging out with the “Girls Together Only” group, the most common meaning the teens provided for the acronym, were the “best years of her life,” said Rebecca Carlisle.

If Carlisle wasn’t hanging with her girls at her mom’s house, the cool spot on the block, she’d be getting up to other teen activities elsewhere — like bringing an empty carport crashing down.

During a sleepover at a GTO girl’s house, the group decided to sneak out via a bedroom window overlooking the roofed garage. By the time the third or fourth girl made her way onto the carport roof, the entire structure came crashing down, Rebecca Carlisle recalled.

What followed was an angry call from parents and a group of banged-up girls.

Carlisle and her friends had a secret code, endless inside jokes and countless nights of laughter, Virr said. She recalled having many “late-night talks about life, love, books and music” with Carlisle and the other GTO girls.

“Julia was my ‘music sister’ — we shared a soundtrack that ranged from The Pixies to Janis Joplin to the Hair soundtrack,” Virr said.

Carlisle graduated from Texas State University with a degree in anthropology and sociology. Always smart and interested in education, Carlisle was the first on her mother’s side to earn a college degree, Rebecca Carlisle said.

She had ambitions of going back to school to become a paralegal, said her mother.

Eventually, Carlisle made her way to Charleston, following her mother after she settled in the area with a partner. For awhile, Julia Carlisle would travel back and forth from Houston to Charleston until she opted for the latter.

“Even as life scattered (the GTO’s) into different cities and seasons, our bond never faded,” Virr said.

“Julia was a once-in-a-lifetime friend — fiercely loyal, brilliantly witty and endlessly compassionate. She had a way of making you feel completely seen, and once you met her, you were hers for life,” she said.