Juanita Thomason Boyce Steele

Visitation for Juanita Thomason Boyce Steele will be held at Mish Funeral Home (120 Minner Ave.) on Thursday, June 2, 2011 from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held at the First United Methodist Church (Stockdale Hwy.) on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

Jaunita was the first born of Ida E. and Roscoe Cook of Tipton, OK. She is preceded in death by her husband Claude Steele in 2002; and brothers, Clayton and Kenneth Cook; and she is survived by sister, Leola; and son, Harold Thomason. Juanita graduated from Tipton High School and Bethany Penile Collage, majoring in English. She attended Central State College in Edmond, OK and received a Master’s Degree in Teaching in 1960. She was the mother of twin sons, Gerald Ray and Harold Gene Thomason. Her first job after college was teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in the country-side of her hometown of Tipton, OK. She later received a degree in Special Education for teaching children with handicaps. She taught in the Oklahoma City School District for almost 20 years. She moved to Arvin, California teaching the second grade and Special Education for 20 years at Meridian Sierra Vista and Haven Drive in the Arvin School District. In 1969, she moved to Bakersfield, CA and resided there until her death. She was an active member of Kappa Kappa Iota and Eastern Star, and the Bakersfield Women’s Club. She will be buried at the Bethany Cemetery in Bethany, Oklahoma beside her son, Gerald Roy and Mr. Steele.

Arrangements under the direction of Mish Funeral Home, Bakersfield, CA.