Jeanette Faye (Stroup) Palkowetz, 96, of Wichita Falls, Texas, slipped away to be with her beloved husband, parents, and the Good Lord on November 29 , 2021, surrounded by the love of her adoring family. Jeanette's Funeral will be on Friday, December 3, 2021 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church. Viewing will begin at 9:30 AM, with Rosary beginning at 10:15 AM, followed immediately by the Funeral Mass, with Father Alex Ambrose and Deacon Jim Bindel officiating. The Rite of Committal will follow in Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery under the direction of Lunn's Colonial Funeral Home.

Jeanette was born February 8, 1925 to Mossie and "Ike" Stroup close to Island Bayou, in rural Oklahoma, near Durant. Both parents' ancestors landed on this continent in the early 1700's and, over generations, pioneered their way across America until arriving at the first Oklahoma Land Rush and then Bryan County.

Growing up on a self-sufficient family farm during the Great Depression, Jeanette and her seven siblings walked three miles to school, picked cotton, shook peanuts, and gathered native pecans. She and their draft horses Old Nell or Old Dollie would fetch the cows from pasture, milk the cows, and gather the eggs, every morning before breakfast. Having no plumbing nor electricity, daily chores included manually separating the milk and churning butter, sewing dresses and quilts from cotton flour sacks on a treadle machine, and washing clothes on a scrub board with well water heated on a wood stove.

Family reunions in Oklahoma City were an annual highlight. Seeing the town and playing with her many cousins was a delightful adventure. When pressed, in later years, she would describe her relative, Willie Nelson, who attended the event and would become a famous musician.

Jeanette and her twin sister Geneva did everything together. Playing high school basketball and going on class trips to Turner Falls were their favorite pastimes. They graduated in 1943, at the height of World War II, when there were few young men to date. A memorable thrill was going on a family trip to the Dallas State Fair, when the twins were allowed to take Jeep rides around Love Field air base with the "G.I.'s."

Together, Jeanette and Geneva attended Southeastern State College, (now Southeastern Oklahoma State University) and received Bachelor degrees in music and teaching. They then took school teaching jobs in McAlester, Oklahoma, and taught the students to perform children's operettas.

It was at Southeastern's only school dance where Jeanette met her great love, Joe Palkowetz, a sailor from the New York City suburb of East Orange, New Jersey. He charmed her with his smooth dance moves, sky blue eyes, and irresistible smile and humor. Joe was stationed at Durant and had to be convinced by his Navy buddies to attend the college dance. Once he met Jeanette, he never wanted to leave. They gave each other pet names "Jany" and "Jody" and were soon engaged.

After Joe's proposal, atop the new Lake Texoma dam, Jeanette wanted to be a June bride. That wish was delayed when their farmhouse took a direct hit from a major tornado. Jeanette, Geneva, their "Ma" and "Pap," and a young family who were happening by, barely survived the "cyclone" by dashing into the root cellar. Almost immediately, the door was blown off and a chicken was blown in. The nearby corn "crib," made of logs, broke loose and violently crashed onto the underground earthen room, partially caving it in. The logs covered enough of the door hole to save their lives, as they huddled together, drenched, praying the overhead "freight train" would soon pass. Jeanette said it was the most beautiful, mild summer after that. She and her Pap built a new house "with a hammer and a T-square." Joe wired it ready for rural power, as he had just done for the original house. They married on the 21st of that August 1949. Jeanette made her dress and had to keep taking it in, since she lost so much weight from all the work. She later reminded her children that there was no government assistance in those days, just the kindness of neighbors.

Jeanette and Joe never once argued in all their 63 years of marriage. They settled in Wichita Falls, when he took a job downtown with Clarence Simms Office Supply, a business he would later own. Jeanette was one of the first teachers at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic School until her first child came along. She was always proud that every one of her students learned to read proficiently. As a team, Jeanette and Joe raised their five children to learn as many skills as they could pass along and gave them every advantage their modest income allowed.

Jeanette took her career as mother quite seriously and never stopped studying and teaching her children, for whom she worked long hours. For someone who never learned to drive, she somehow never missed a Scout event, YMCA or dance class, Teacher's meeting, or ball game. She would also recount vivid tales of her youth while showing her kids how to cook, sew, garden, fold the endless laundry, and decorate for holidays. Such delightful childhood memories were historic records of the colorful people and times of "Down Home on the Farm." That well organized, river-bottom acreage, was "down around DU-rant," and purchased from the Choctaw people by her Pap and his Civil War veteran father. Jeanette's often repeated pioneer stories revealed her respect and longing for her parents, and deep connection with her sisters, with whom she would fall into collective laughing fits during visits.

Considering music essential to life, Jeanette often reminisced about listening to the Carter family on the radio, by coal oil lamplight and jitterbugging with "Jody" to Bob Wills. Her most cherished possession was her piano, which she played until her last days. Doctors and Nurses would comment on the murmurs that gave her a musical heart. In her old age, as her memory faded, the meeting of Joe and the tornado would prove to be the last lingering stories she would recall. Singing the words to "There's a school that they call Southeastern …" her college song, and telling her family "I love you," were the last words she was able to utter at the very end of her life. Both gave her much solace.

Jeanette's simple beauty, quiet elegance and witty, strong will endeared her to all she met. A "Steel Magnolia," she never stopped blooming. She and Joe will be missed as long as they are remembered and are dancing and laughing together forever.

Jeanette is preceded in death by: her mother Mossie (Myers) of Clarinda, IA then Campbell County, TN; her father Isaac Oliver Stroup of Lawrence, KS then Moore, OK; her brother Fred and wife Jewel Stroup; sister Minnie and husband Taylor Coldiron; sister Juanita and husband "Cushy" Cushman; brother John and wife Anna Laura Stroup; brother Robert "Chuck" and wife Winnie Stroup; sister June and first husband Richard A. "RAM" Matthews and second husband Don Patterson; twin sister Geneva Mae and husband Buck Smith; her cherished husband Joseph Michael Palkowetz, Sr.; and her baby son John Robert Palkowetz.

She is survived by: son Michael Joseph Palkowetz and wife Kim of Houston; son Joseph Michael Palkowetz, Jr. and wife Georgia of Houston; daughter Connie Marie Hendrix of Wichita Falls; daughter Jeanette Palkowetz Summers and husband Scott of Wichita, Kansas; daughter Sharon Mae Palkowetz and fiancé Michael Ramsey of Dallas; grandchildren Joseph Clayton Hendrix of Texas, Nicole Marie Hendrix of Washington State, and Erin Moore of Dallas; and great granddaughter Paige Huskey of Dallas.

Memorial donations may be sent to: Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, 4040 York Street, Wichita Falls, Texas 76309 and Hospice of Wichita Falls, 4909 Johnson Rd, Wichita Falls, Tx 76310.