Jeani De Sisto was set free to be with the Lord on July 1, 2022, after a courageous battle with cancer.
She was born Jeania Ann Crowley, on July 27, 1946 in Pampa, Texas, to Mary Jean & Delbert “Deb” Crowley, and the world has never been the same.
Her mom and her aunts (Betty, Kathy, Wilma, and Helen) were thrilled to have a living, breathing baby doll to play with and dote on. They all infused her with bits of their own personalities, and spoiled her rotten, with a fair amount of help from Dwade and John Evans (her maternal grandparents), along with Ethel and Sam Crowley (her paternal grandparents).
Five years later, her little brother John Crowley came along, and she got to have her very own living baby doll, for whom she did the exact same thing. She absolutely adored him for the next 64 years, until his own passing in 2016.
Pampa, Texas, Hobbs and Roswell, New Mexico, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Dallas (where she graduated from Lake Highlands High School, in 1964), and New Orleans were all places she lived, but Houston was her Home.
When studying at the University of Houston (’64 - ’65), she said to herself: “What am I doing here? All I want is to find the most beautiful man on earth, and have two beautiful sons with him”. So, at 18 she went out in search of The Father Of Her Children. It didn’t take long until her radar went off, when she saw J V Redick across the room. They were married in 1966, at South Main Baptist Church, with at least the partial consent of her parents. They had those two boys she had imagined: Rick Redick in 1967, and Rob Redick in 1971, after which their marriage fizzled dramatically, kinda like those big monocarpic “century plant” agaves do, after blooming.
Jeani was a wonderful wife, an astonishingly talented pianist, was irreverently and uproariously funny, (I mean… way more fun than would be appropriate to talk about here), she worked tirelessly, and was an inventive, inspirational, loving mother, who taught her children that the most important things in life are love and service. Every Christmas, she would find a family in need, would take her boys shopping for the family, then they would stealthily gain access to the family’s home, and fill the place with mountains of gorgeously wrapped presents.
She LOVED Jesus, y’all. So, she really, really loved Christmas. The whole family sang Happy Birthday to Jesus every year. There was an actual cake. With candles. He never blew out the candles, so she did it for him, which I’m sure he appreciated, given the whole “as near as our next breath” thing. Obviously, her love of Christ was expressed in all areas of her life, not just in being obsessed with Christmas, but… there were many years when all of the stockings in her house stayed up from one Christmas to the next, just to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive, at all times.
Jeani is survived by the love of her life, John B. De Sisto, Jr. On December 31, 1984, when Johnny was working at Magnolia Bar & Grill, Jeani came up to the bar and asked him if he’d call a cab for her, so she could get away from some jerk she was on a terrible first date with. Johnny offered to give her a ride home, had the offending dude removed from the premises, and that was it. Surely there have been a few times since, when Johnny has wished that he had just called her a cab, but they had a wild and wonderful adventure together for 38 years.
In addition to Johnny, she is also survived by her sons Rob Redick (Lindy), and Rick Redick (Beth), step-daughter Stephanie Mize (Mark), step-son John B. De Sisto III, grandson Pfeiffer Redick, step-grandchildren Alyssa De Sisto, Jacob De Sisto, Brayden Harris, and their mother Kristina Harris, Jake Mize, and Luke Mize, nieces Nicole Crowley and Jeannette Davie, cousins Deborah Schools, Greg Busbee, Joe Howard, Steve Hargis, David Hargis, Sam Hargis, Jerry King, Karen Hannah, and Debra Nicholas, and her sweet pew-mates at Tallowood Baptist Church.
After she retired from her forty year career as a recruiter, who matched engineers with companies who needed them, thereby providing many people with rewarding jobs, she started her own recruiting company called Brijen Resources seven years ago, and spent her retirement doing the work she loved, and traveling with Johnny to Belize, Aruba, Cabo, Curaçao, Hawaii, and Jamaica (which she loved even more than working).
Jeani was preceded in death by her parents Mary Jean & Deb Crowley, her brother John Crowley, maternal grandparents Duade & John Evans, paternal grandparents Ethel & Sam Crowley, aunt Betty Busbee (Floyd), aunt Helen King (Clyde Donald), uncle Howard Crowley (Ruby), aunt Wilma Howard (Emmett), and aunt Kathryn Howard (Moe), cousins Henry Crowley, Phillip Busbee, Terry Wayne Crowley, and Ann Howard.
There will be a viewing from 1:00 - 3:00 pm on Thursday, July 7, 2022 at Advantage Funeral Home, 7010 Chetwood Dr., in Houston
She will be laid to rest at 2:00pm Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery, 6900 Lawndale St., in Houston
Following her burial, funeral services will be held at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at Tallowood Baptist Church, 555 Tallowood Dr., officiated by Dr. Duane Brooks, her favorite preacher on earth.
We would say that instead of flowers, Jeani would prefer that you give money to charity, or do an unexpected act of kindness for someone in need, but… She liked flowers a whole lot, so if you want to prove your love for her by buying her some beautiful flowers , she would be delighted, and we’re not gonna try to stop you. You can send them either to Advantage Funeral Home, for Thursday’s viewing, or to Tallowood Baptist Church, for Tuesday’s service.
Flowers notwithstanding, she would still love it it if all of us would honor her by anonymously doing something kind and loving for someone who doesn’t see it coming, and doesn’t know we did it.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.17