Juanita Cranfill

Juanita Delores Patterson Cranfill, 92, of Waco, Texas, went home to be with our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, on Wednesday, December 5, 2018. Services to celebrate her life will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 12:00pm, at Pecan Grove Funeral Home, 3124 Robinson Drive, Waco, with Dr. Cary Killough officiating. Burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park. The family will receive visitors one hour prior to the service beginning at 11:00 a.m., at the funeral home.

Juanita (as she was known to her friends), and Delores (as she was known to her family), was born in Hamilton County, between Jonesboro and Cranfills Gap, Texas, on December 6, 1925. She went to school in Cranfills Gap where she met the love of her life, Travis Wendell Cranfill. She graduated from McGregor High School in 1944. Shortly after graduation, she and Travis married in Deland, Florida, on June 13, 1944. They lived their entire adult lives in Waco where they made many endearing, lifelong friends. They were devoted parents to their two daughters, Sandra and Judy, and they were married almost 66 years before the passing of Travis in 2010.
Juanita loved being a Mother and she was very self-sacrificing for her daughters. She was always actively involved in their school and church activities. When they were growing up, she would spend countless hours sewing for them and doing things with them. No occasion was too small for her to sit down at her sewing machine and make a new outfit for one of them to wear to school the following day. Many trips were made to the local roller skating rink. She went to work for Sears in 1967 and retired in 1987, with twenty years of service.
Juanita dearly loved her family, her friends, and her church family of many years at Meadowbrook Baptist Church. She was happiest when she was baking Hummingbird cakes and caring for others. She was known as the “cake lady” at Meadowbrook Baptist Church. She will be greatly missed and remembered for many reasons by those who loved her, but mostly for how much she loved them, for how much she loved the Lord, and for her fantastic memory.
Juanita was preceded in death by her parents Squire Jackson Patterson and Hazel Windham Patterson Burton; her loving husband Travis W. Cranfill; her daughter Judy C. Groman; her sisters Jamyrta Smith and Lois Buckner; and her brother Odell Patterson.

She is survived by her daughter Sandra C. Davis and husband James; granddaughter Kimberly C. Longino and husband Rory; grandson Michael R. Kattner; three great granddaughters: Kayla B. Longino, Lindsay C. Longino, and Faith E. Longino.
Sandra and James would like to thank Juanita's dear family members and many close friends and neighbors for their unwavering love to Mother and for always being there for her as she aged and life became harder without Travis. We will always be grateful to each and every one of you for your love and support to Mother especially during her life at Ridgecrest Retirement.
Honorary pallbearers are Dr. William Mitchell, Doyle Lawless, Shorty Stone, and Thomas Neill.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Meadowbrook Baptist Church, 1207 N Old Robinson Rd, Waco, TX 76706.