A Celebration of Life will be held at 10 AM on Monday, October 9, 2023, at Mt. Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64131. A Visitation will begin one hour prior to services at 9 AM.
Juanita was born at the family farm home in Norborne, Missouri, November 8, 1924, to Burr Abner Case and Ethel Mae (Cheek) Case. As a youngster on the farm her early chores included retrieving eggs from the hen house. She hated being pecked by the chickens and claimed to not like eating eggs the rest of her life. She and her next older sister Dorothy attended the same two room schoolhouse. As they grew older, they even sang on the local radio station together. Juanita had a beautiful singing voice which she shared up until her last few months at Brookdale. She joined in with hymns sings, any entertainment that came, and could often be heard singing her favorite tunes around the building.
After graduating from Stet High School in 1942 as valedictorian, Juanita enrolled at Chillicothe Business College. When she became homesick, instead of returning to the family home Juanita headed for “the big city”, where her Aunt Babe and sister Dorothy were already living. Juanita started her work career at the Kansas City Star in the bookkeeping department. She soon found her future life partner, a handsome fellow employee, Oscar Erickson. They were married March 6,1945. She continued working at General Foods and later, the Maury E Bettis Company until the birth of their first son, Alan. After becoming a mother Juanita quit her outside work and devoted her life to being a full-time mother and housewife; but she managed to keep many other interests.
Juanita enjoyed playing cards, especially gin rummy, with Oscar and other friends. She had a large stash of pennies from her winnings. She often kept up with longtime friends and neighbors over the backyard fences, luncheons, and coffees long after the kids were raised and gone.
She was passionate about her favorite sports heroes and teams; Len Dawson, George Brett, Mohammad Ali and Billie Jean King just to name a few. In fact, she was even a 50-year season ticket holder with the KC Chiefs, a member of the Negro Baseball League Museum and SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) with her younger son, Roger.
Juanita continued a lifelong love of music, played the organ, went to Branson regularly to see Yo-Yo Ma, Andy Williams and others. Some of her favorite singers were Neil Diamond and of course the King, Elvis Presley! She attended all of her sons’ and granddaughters’ band concerts from elementary through high school and all of the granddaughters’ piano recitals. Juanita loved to hear them all.
Juanita and Oscar also loved to travel, ranging from short regional trips and yearly long family driving vacations to their trip to Sweden along with her sister and husband to chase down Oscar’s Swedish family roots. They also visited art and antique shops and shows to look for work by local artists and find rare samples of her beloved “Flow Blue” china. Juanita tried to collect something from all of the flow blue patterns, an impossibility. She was especially fond of local artists Rod Cofran watercolors, Bob Holloway mixed media and Thomas Hart Benton lithographs. They even visited the Benton home a few times while Tom was still living to purchase copies, he re-signed in pencil for them. Tom even took Oscar to the basement to show him “the furnace”, actually where he hid his whiskey while his wife handled the business transaction with Juanita.
No matter what else she was doing, Juanita never strayed far from her farm roots and values. She enjoyed going back for visits and especially fresh farm corn. She always had a warm friendly attitude towards everyone, and always had dinner on the table at 5:30 PM sharp.
Juanita was preceded in death by her husband of 48 years, Oscar Erickson; parents, Ethel and Burr Case; four siblings, Ethel Tweedie, Glen O’Day, Junior Case, and Dorothy Darnell-Hultz; stepson Bruce Erickson; and granddaughter Barbara Erickson.
Survivors include two sons, Alan Erickson (Christina), and Roger Erickson; four granddaughters, Heather Holthaus (Rob), Laura Lee (Robert), Deanna Sears (Eric) and Jennifer Erickson; and four great grandsons, William (Liam) Holthaus, Zane Holthaus, Calvin Lee and Maxwell (Max) Lee; and dozens of nieces, nephews, and cousins across the country.
Juanita was loving and loved by family and friends, and she will be greatly missed.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601 or https://www.alz.org/
Juanita will be laid to rest in Mount Moriah Cemetery, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64131.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mtmoriah.net for the Erickson family.
