Juanita F. Cotton
06/04/1928 - 06/03/2022
Juanita Francis Reeves Cotton, 93, passed away Friday, June 3, 2022 at home she has been a resident of Sierra Vista, Arizona for 51 years. Juanita was born in Vaux Hall, New Jersey, on June 4, 1928, the daughter of the late Edward L. Reeves, Sr. and Grace Adelaide Rankin Reeves. She was the oldest of seven children. She moved at an early age with her family to Long Branch, New Jersey where she spent her formative years. She loved to read and the only time she got in trouble with her parents was when she was busy reading and neglected to do her chores.
She graduated from Long Branch Senior High in 1945 and entered Lincoln School of Nurses in Bronx, New York, where she studied to become a registered nurse. She graduated in 1949 and practiced nursing in New York, California, and New Jersey. She met her future husband while he was on TDY and married Willie Cotton on October 31, 1945. As it turns out, they unwittingly married on Sunday, October 31st (Halloween Day). She liked to tease Willie by telling him that she got tricked and he got treated but, this union lasted for 59 years ending with the death of her late husband on August 12, 2013.
She permanently gave up of nursing in 1971 to be better able to care for her children as the nursing schedule was demanding and required her to work weekends, night, and holidays. She had previously worked for the government for a year after graduating from high school so she took the required examination and was hired as a civil servant. She moved with her husband and family back to Fort Huachuca, Arizona in 1971 as a personal clerk and worked way up to a personnel staffing specialist. She retired from that position in June 1990 after a five-year period of employment in Wuerzburg, Germany.
During her lifetime she was a charter member of the Huachuca Toastmasters Club and a charter member of the American Business Women’s Association of Sierra Vista. She was also a member of the local chapter of the NAACP, the National Association for Retired Federal Employees, and the Democratic Women of Southeast Arizona. She was an active member of St. Paul missionary Baptist Church for many years.
She loved to travel. During her lifetime she lived and worked in Germany, visited France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and other European countries, Canada, Egypt Senegal, West Africa, various parts of the Caribbean, and Mexico.
She is preceded in death by her parents Edward L. and Grace Reeves, Sr, and siblings Sandra Reeves Corey and Edward L. Reeves, Jr. She is survived by her daughter, Pastor Michele Cotton, son, Minister Sean Cotton, sisters Beverly Smith, Neptune, New Jersey, the Reverend Jacqueline Reeves of Charlotte, North Carolina, Reverends Pedro and Carolyn Castelli of Asbury Park, New Jersey, brother Donald Reeves, of Elizabeth, New Jersey granddaughters Dawn Bohanon and Brielle Riche, great grandson Solomon Hawkins, and in host of nieces nephews family and friends.
Memorial service will be held at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday 4pm. Intermittent will be at Fort Huachuca Post Cemetery (Bonnie Blink) on Monday, June 13, 2022 at 10 a.m.
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