Juanita Sikes Canada

JUANITA SIKES CANADA
Henderson: Juanita Eliene Sikes Canada, age 80, Poet Laureate of Chester County, died Monday morning July 18, 2016 at Jackson General Hospital.

She was born and reared in the New Friendship Community of Chester County, the daughter of the late Heard Daniel and Fannie Bell Rouse Sikes. She graduated from Chester County High School in 1955 where she excelled in basketball. She attended Freed-Hardeman College, Tennessee State University, UT Knoxville, and Jackson State Community College. She had worked for Dr. Orman Campbell, First Baptist Church of Henderson, Milam Optical Company, Essary Florist, and 26 ½ years at Chickasaw Area Development Commission/Southwest Human Resource Agency retiring in 2001 as Director of Nutrition Program for the Elderly.

Canada was a charter member of the Henderson Business & Professional Women’s Club and had served in all of it’s offices and had served at the state level as well. She assisted in the organization of the BPW in Selmer, Parsons, and Jackson. She was co-founder of the Henderson Jaycettes and had worked with other civic organizations including Chester County Cerebral Palsy, The Red Cross, the Heart Fund, and St. Jude Fund Drives. She had worked with the CC Arts Commission, CC Mental Health Association, CC Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the Henderson Bi-Centennial Committee and Chairman of the Eddy Arnold Day in Chester County. She was instrumental in founding and developing the Chester County Bar-B-Que Festival.

She served as the first woman elected official for the Henderson Board of Alderman for eight years and a street, Juanita Avenue was named in honor of her outstanding service rendered to the City of Henderson. She was the first female member of the Henderson Lions Club. She was a recipient of the Department of Health and Human Services “Humanitarian Service Award.” She was appointed a Tennessee Colonel by Governor Ned Ray McWherter and an Honorary Member of Lieutenant Governor John Wilder’s Staff for her work in nutrition for the elderly and the meals on wheels program.

She had been a member of the First United Methodist Church of Henderson since 1981. Her hobbies included oil painting, writing poetry, rock digging, gardening and fishing.

An article published in the Aging Network News dated February 1994 stated “she (Canada) has lived her life through the eyes of the elderly and those in need. The words “me” or “I” must not be in her vocabulary. Everything she sets out to do she does with someone else in mind. Her love of mankind is admirable and is to be envied. Juanita Sikes Canada is a true humanitarian.”

She is survived a special friend and faithful caregiver Floyd Powers of Henderson, a sister Margaret “Peggy” Williams of Tucker, GA, a step daughter April McCullough of Memphis and half brothers and sisters Janie Holt, Marsha Joyce, David Sikes, D. D. Sikes, Marvin Sikes, Larry Sikes, and Rusty Sikes.

Funeral services will be 11:00 AM Wednesday at Shackelford Funeral Directors – Casey Chapel with Paul Scheirer and Joe Pevahouse officiating. Burial will follow at Sweetlips Cemetery.

Shackelford Funeral Directors – Casey Chapel