Anita Jeane Stewart Stentz passed away peacefully at the age of 89, on September 11, 2018, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Anita was born on August 20, 1929, in Alexandria, Louisiana, to John Bascon Stewart and Bertha Wainwright Stewart. She was a member of the 1947 graduating class of Bolton High School in Alexandria. After graduation, she studied at Louisiana College, Department of Nursing, in Pineville, Louisiana. She moved to New Orleans in 1949, and completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the Charity Hospital School of Nursing in 1951. On January 19, 1951, she married the love of her life, William Cyrus Stentz, to whom she was happily married for 42 years. They began married life in New Orleans, moving to Metairie in 1964.
Anita loved flower gardening and painting the wooden creations that her husband crafted by hand at their Metairie home. She also excelled at ceramics, winning a first place ribbon in a parish wide contest. She had a knack for leadership and participated in a variety of organizations and clubs. She was an active and devoted member of the Airline Baptist Church in Metairie, and she was a caring and helpful neighbor. Anita took great pride in her nursing and organizational skills, and she was especially proud to have served as the head nurse on the 5th floor of Southern Baptist Hospital in New Orleans.
Anita was preceded in death by her husband, William, her father, John, her mother, Bertha, her sister Velma Ruth Stewart St. Romain, and her daughter-in-law, Maria Lisa Hogan Stentz. She is survived by her loving son, William and his wife Carol Ann, her step-grandson Lionel Joseph Holley, III, and his wife Kaylie Rae Bacon Holley, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Services will be held at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Memorial Boulevard, Metairie, Louisiana, 70006. Visitation will be Thursday, September 13, 2018 from 5 pm to 7pm, and Friday, September 14, 2018 from 9 am-11am. A funeral service will begin at 11 am with interment immediately following at Garden of Memories, Jeffersonian Mausoleum, 4900 Airline Drive, Metairie, Louisiana, 70001.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials in Anita’s name to Airline Baptist Church, 421 North Lester Avenue, Metairie, Louisiana, 70003.
Condolences may be left for the family online at www.leitzeaganfuneralhome.com
