Juanita June Reece was born July 3, 1925, on a farm near Southwick, Idaho, and died Monday, April 5, 2021, in Lewiston after a brief illness.

She was the youngest of five daughters born to Clara Belle Armitage and Walter Doyle Bateman. Juanita lived most of her younger years in Southwick and graduated from Southwick High School at the age of 16. After high school, she went to Portland, Ore., and worked for the telephone company for about a year. Upon her return to Idaho, she joined her mother, Clara, and her stepfather, Wade Candler, at the Bungalow Ranger Station, where she worked in the kitchen with her mother. Later that summer, she assumed the duties of the dispatcher when he left to search for the Ridgerunner. That fall she moved to Orofino and worked at the Forest Service Office.

Juanita married James Duane Reece on June 18, 1944, in the Cavendish Methodist Church, the first wedding held in that church. After Jim’s return from the service, they lived in Cavendish where they raised their two daughters, Kathy and Vicky. In 1997, after Jim’s car accident, Juanita sold their home of 50-plus years and moved to Lewiston.

Juanita was first and foremost a homemaker. She was also the custodian and substitute bus driver at the Cavendish Teakean School for many years. She was a member of the Order of Eastern Star as well as a member of the Cavendish United Methodist Church. Juanita loved flowers and won many awards for her flowers at the Clearwater County Fair. As a 4-H leader, she had an impact on many young lives. She especially loved fishing for steelhead on the Clearwater River and kokanee on Dworshak Reservoir as well as camping with the “wild bunch.” After moving to Lewiston, she was active in the Orchards United Methodist Church and helped with the rummage sales for many years.

To her daughters, she was “Mom,” and to her four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, she was “Grammy.” She loved her family more than anything and was always proud of their accomplishments. She was a master gardener. She could make anything grow and be beautiful or delicious. She made the best banana cream pies, dill pickles and homemade sauerkraut. She was always up for playing a game ... but you had to watch out if the game was Gestures and she drew the word “stripper” or if you played Taboo and she couldn’t use her hands. She faced all the hardships in her life with grace and was the true face of someone who never gives up. She touched so many lives throughout her 95 years. Everyone she met loved “Juanita.”

Juanita is survived by two daughters, Kathy Stuehrenberg and Vicky Johnson; “the best ever sons-in-law,” Lowell Stuehrenberg and Chris Johnson; grandchildren Curtis (Julienne) Stuehrenberg, Todd (Stacy) Stuehrenberg, Michelle (Kelly) Allen and Aimee (Mike) Mosher; and eight great-grandchildren, Georgianne and Lily Stuehrenberg, Ethan and Bryson Stuehrenberg, Hunter and Ryan Allen, and Justyce and Kelsyn Mosher. She also leaves many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim; her parents; and four sisters, Bessie Armitage, Edith Wells, Dorothy King Silflow and Aletha Rogers Brown.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. April 17 at Malcom’s Brower-Wann Funeral, Lewiston. The family asks that everyone attending wear masks. Memorials in lieu of flowers can be sent to the Orchards United Methodist Church, 1213 Burrell Ave., Lewiston, ID 83501.

Service Information

Date & Time

Saturday, April 17, 1:00 PM

Location

Malcom's Brower-Wann Funeral Home
1711 18th Street
Lewiston, ID 83501

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1711 18th Street
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