Juanita Jean Alloway, 66, of rural Parsons passed away at 11:24 a.m. Saturday, March 4, 2023, at her home. She had been battling cancer for nearly a year. She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Robyn “Gail” Alloway, of the home.
Juanita was born March 26, 1956, in Pasadena, California, to Mary Ann (Richard) and Loyd Ivan Elbrader. She grew up in Goodman, Missouri, and rural Neosho, Missouri, where she attended country school through the fifth grade before moving to the town school. She graduated from Neosho High School in 1974. From there, she continued her education at Missouri Southern State College while working at and attending St. John’s School of Medical Technology. Attending school and work wasn’t quite enough for her, so she also played on the very first women’s basketball team at MSSC as a freshman and sophomore. She always faced hard work and good competition head-on.
On June 18, 1976, Juanita married the love of her life, Gail Alloway. During some of her very last days, she would still say that he was her very best friend.d For the first two years of their marriage, they resided in Oswego while she completed her education. They moved to Parsons in 1978 and have lived there since that time. For the first three years after her graduation from MSSC with a bachelor of science in medical technology, she worked at the Medical Arts Clinic in Parsons. After that, she moved on to being the lab manager at the Parsons State Hospital and Training Center, where she worked for the next 34 years, retiring in March 2015. As a medical technologist, she studied blood most of her life. Her understanding of its importance and her pay-it-forward attitude drove her to donate more than 14 gallons of her own blood during her lifetime to help others.
Juanita was a lifelong avid competitor. She hated to lose, whether she was playing or watching. In her younger years, she loved sports, especially tennis, basketball and softball. She gave up playing sports to start chasing her own children around to their sporting events. She supported her own children and grandchildren (and many nieces and nephews) in all they did, never missing a game, concert, program, competition, or special event. She often joked about how she spent every wedding anniversary enjoying a ballpark hot dog. The only thing she never really mastered was how to be in two places at once when something would happen to overlap, and even then, she would be sitting at one game and checking scores of another.
She also loved to plan vacations and travel near and far. She and Gail spent most of their retirement on the road. If they were “home,” they were visiting friends or family for the day to play PIP dominos or enjoy a meal together. She always enjoyed the outdoors, so her travels often consisted of fishing, four-wheeling, camping, watching sunsets as well as sunrises, sight-seeing and documenting. She loved to take pictures. Her grandkids were truly her pride and joy. She’d light up telling a story about them, and she made every birthday extra special with custom cakes and sugar cookies. She was probably proudest of the Disney castle cake that she made for the twins’ fifth birthday, but the grandkids loved them all. She was the epitome of the saying, “If you don’t like Mom’s answer, ask Grandma!”
Juanita is survived by her dad, Loyd Elbrader of Neosho, Missouri; as well as her husband, Gail Alloway of the home; a stepson, Jon Alloway (Bev Schoenhofer) of Parsons; a son, Matt Alloway (Amber) of Parsons; and two daughters, Robyn Harrell (Tyler) and Carrie Lance (Andrew), both of Pittsburg; her grandchildren, Kaitlin Wright (Kevin), Ratchel Alloway, both of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Rayleigh, Molly, Tucker and Cruz Harrell of Pittsburg, Maverick Sharp and Ace Alloway of Parsons and Josiah, Gabriel and Madison Lance of Pittsburg; two great-grandchildren, Langston Billings and Hollis Wright of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; her brother, Dennis Elbrader (Debbie) of Columbus; and three sisters, Gayle Price (Dave) of Girard, Michelle Franks (Monte) of Bentonville, Arkansas, and Christine Beauchamp (John) of Weldon Springs, Missouri.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Mary Ann Elbrader; her in-laws, Raymond and Nellie (Colene) Alloway; and her grandparents, Mabel and Eugene Richard and Herbert and Sadie Elbrader.
The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Patrick Catholic School gymnasium in Parsons. Burial will immediately follow the Mass in Girard Cemetery. The rosary will be prayed at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a visitation to follow until 8 p.m. at the Carson-Wall Funeral Home in Parsons.
The family suggests memorials to the building fund for St. Patrick Catholic Church in Parsons and these may be left or mailed to the funeral home, 112 26th St., P.O. Box 942, Parsons, KS, 67357.
Leave online condolences at www.wallfuneralservices.com.
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