Juanita Hurley

Juanita Hurley (nee Howard) was born May 30,1937 to Nannie Belle Mullins Howard and Hubert Howard in Breathitt County, Kentucky. She attended Mt Carmel School in Jackson, Kentucky. As a young lady, she moved to Rochester, Michigan to live with her sister Laura. While working as a waitress at the St. James Hotel in downtown Rochester, she had an attentive customer that wooed her to the altar on April 28, 1956. That customer’s name was William “Bill” Sherwood Hurley, the love of her life. Over the next few years, Juanita and Bill started a family by welcoming their two daughters into the world, and they established the local grocery store, Hurley’s Market, which was a neighborhood fixture for many years, right across from Central Junior High, in downtown Rochester.

In the years to come, Juanita became a steady, ever-present figure in her community and in her extended family. After raising her girls and running the family store, she took on several clerical roles at businesses in the Rochester area. Touching the lives of many, in both big and small ways, she enjoyed devoting her free time at the Rochester OPC for many years as a volunteer, though she herself was also an OP during much of that time. Juanita had friends everywhere, in every stage of her life, and she continued to hold those connections throughout all her years. She vacationed and celebrated holidays with neighbors for decades after they no longer lived next door to each other. She regularly traveled back to Kentucky for class reunions, maintaining friendships from her childhood and staying connected to her roots. She visited and cared for her mother, siblings, in-laws, her late husband, and several pet dogs over the years, until it was ultimately her turn to be cared for.

Juanita passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon, finally able to rest. She was preceded in death by her parents Nannie Belle and Hubert Howard; her siblings Laura Barnett, Zola Morris, Fred Howard, and Paul Howard; and Bill, her husband of 46 years. She is survived by her brother, Roger (Sue) Cundiff; her daughters Teri (John) Stevenson and Suzette (John) Waatti; her grandchildren Jennifer (Brian) Wei, Jack Waatti, and Lukas (Nicole) Waatti; her great granddaughters Alyah, Phoebe, Philippa, and Oakleigh; her special friend Harley Johnson; her sister-in-law Roberta Howard, brother and sister-in-law Charles and Carol Hurley; many nieces and nephews; and countless neighbors, friends, and acquaintances.

A Memorial Visitation for Juanita will be held on Friday, October 11, 2024 from 10 AM until the time of service at 11 AM, at Pixley Funeral Home, 322 W. University Dr., Rochester, MI, 48307.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Rochester OPC Social & Activity Center at https://opccenter.org/ways-to-give/ or Lake Orion Nursing and Rehab Center, Third Floor Employee Fund, 585 E. Flint Street, Lake Orion, MI 48362