Juanita Louise Wilcoxon

After a courageous battle with breast cancer, Juanita Louise Wilcoxon, died at her new home in Chico, CA on Friday, March 30, 2018. She was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 16, 1937. Juanita was the middle child, but only daughter, of James and Louise Baschiere. Juanita often spoke of her days growing up in Chicago's "projects" for low-income families. She shared that it was a close-knit community of families where there were many children—so many opportunities to have fun playing with the friends she made. Juanita and her older brother, Ronald, attended St. Bonaventure—affectionately referred to as "St. Bonnie's" elementary school, where they received their Catholic faith formation—the core to Juanita's character throughout her life. With a lot of grins and laughs, Juanita and Ron, both, shared stories of their days they were taught by the nuns at St. Bonnie's. At times their stories differed, though, on how fond they each recalled those experiences--likely a common thread in sibling childhood memories—or at least the memories shared between an older brother and younger sister. Juanita attended Alvernia High School in Chicago and graduated in the class of 1955. Though she lived her adult life in California and Nevada, Juanita proudly attended many of the class reunions in Chicago -even the 60 year class reunion in 2015. Juanita put herself through college by working and earning scholarships. She graduated from Clarke College in Dubuque Iowa—an all-women college back then—with a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology. She was active in dance and choir while at Clarke. At Juanita's 50th class reunion from college in September 2009, Clarke presented Juanita with the distinguished alumni Humanitarian Service Award. It is no surprise that Clarke awarded her with this award, she lived by a simple philosophy learned as a child at a church camp—"God first, others second, I'm third." Juanita knew that the future of the church was its youth—and she invested her life in forming the faith of the next generation as a religious education teacher for 30 years. Juanita fell in love with the young man who moved into the boarding house next door, Ray Shuck—an Army veteran and machinist from West Virginia-- and they married. They moved to California to start their life together just before their first-born daughter, Marie Jeanette (Beck) was born in 1962. They moved to Fremont, California in 1965 when Michelle Louise (Korte) was born. Juanita learned via on-the-job training to become a computer program operator and later a computer programmer. She was instrumental in writing the school district's first high school comprehensive transcript report in Cobol language. Family was most important to Juanita, and when Ray suddenly died in a motorcycle accident in 1975, she played the role of both mother and father to her two daughters in their pre-teen and teenage years. Her organizational skills, work-ethic and love for her daughters helped her to master the single-parenting years. Upon the urging of a childhood friend from Chicago she had reunited with in Fremont, Christine Hildebrand, Juanita attended a Parents-without-Partners square dance event in 1979 where Christine introduced her to Richard B. Wilcoxon—the man who would become the love of her life. After dating and an innumerable amount of do-si-dos in the square dance hall, Juanita and Richard wed on October 24, 1981. Juanita retired soon after their marriage and fully enjoyed the role of wife and housemaker. Upon his retirement in 1987, Juanita and Richard embarked on many travel adventures—most of which included square dance events—across the country and even to Alaska, Hawaii and Europe. In 1996 Richard and Juanita moved to their dream house in Minden, Nevada. They enjoyed the view of the mountains from their kitchen window, gardening in their yard and entertaining family and friends in their large open kitchen-dining area. Juanita used her time to cook, quilt, sew, and enjoy the growing number of grandchildren they shared. As grandchildren became older, they would enjoy their visit to "Camp Gramma's" in Minden too—where spoiling was rampant and the strict rule of "what happens at gramma's house stays at gramma's house" prevailed. As their children started families of their own, gathering the whole family together for Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays became difficult. Loving to entertain the family, Juanita claimed St. Patrick's Day as the family annual gathering event—the Baschiere, Shuck and Wilcoxons all together. Clad in green from head-to-toe, she made a delicious corned beef dinner including cabbage, Irish soda bread and even green fluff. All of it served elegantly with a hearty dose of family fun, and of course, Juanita declared the family was Irish for the day. Juanita was the loving caregiver for Richard during his battles with cancer. She became a widow for the second time in 2009 when Richard died—a loss she never overcame. Being a fervent Catholic, she turned to the Rosary and the other prayers for strength. Knowing what a prayer warrior she was, often her family, friends and neighbors would ask her to add someone to her prayer list. She would always ask, with greatest concern, what was needed or what problem was happening, and added them to her prayer list. However, because she was not always told if/when the prayer was answered, she just kept them on the list—and daily would pray for their needs. It was often said that once someone was on Juanita's prayer list, they were never taken off. Juanita will be remembered for many things—her laugh, her sense of humor, the strong faith she shared, the tea parties she elegantly hosted, her wonderful cooking, the beautiful hand-written birthday and anniversary cards she never failed to send, her pen pal letters, and the handmade Christmas cards she sent each year. She will be most remembered, though, for the dedicated love she shared with family and friends. Juanita shared her time and her resources to always help others before her own needs. She was a faithful friend—even to some she met in her young years in Chicago. She was a self-less, devoted mother and a proud and loving Gramma—even sharing her beloved dark-chocolate with her youngest grandchild. Juanita is survived by her daughters Marie Beck and Michelle (Brian) Korte; step-sons Rick (Anne) Wilcoxon, Darrell (Elaine) Wilcoxon, and Rob Wilcoxon; grandchildren Alexander (Alexa) Beck, Matthew Beck, Zachary Korte, Rebecca Korte, Abigail Korte, Daniel Wilcoxon, Thomas Wilcoxon, Ashley Wilcoxon and Casey Wilcoxon; brothers Ronald (Carol) Baschiere and Douglas Baschiere; and her nieces whom she adored, Lynn (Chris) Cattell and Debby (Danny) Fletcher. Juanita's family would like to express their gratitude to all of their friends, family and neighbors for their prayers and support during this journey. A special thank you to all of Juanita's medical providers especially the entire Enloe Hospice team— you are angels here on earth. Services for Juanita Wilcoxon will be held at Our Divine Savior Catholic Church (566 East Lassen Ave, Chico, CA) Friday, June 22, 2018 at 11am. Interment at Glen Oaks Memorial Park (11115 Midway, Chico, CA) will follow the service. Friends may visit www.brusiefh.com to share a memory with the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Enloe Foundation (for their Regional Cancer Center and Hospice Programs) or to the American Cancer Society.