WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Georgia Juanita Morales, age 49, of Sturgis, passed away early Thursday morning, October 6, 2022 at Elkhart General Hospital.
She was born June 20, 1973 in Chicago, daughter of Joe and Victoria (Gallegos) Morales.
Juanita resided in Sturgis for the past 17 years coming from Illinois.
She attended the University of Chicago at both the Chicago campus and Urbana-Champaign campus earning a bachelor degree and she was a student in the medical program when health issues forced her to postpone her studies.
Juanita was a librarian and museum curator. She was overflowing with so many gifts and talents. She was a talented actress and operatic alto soprano and became friends with and sang with opera singer Kathleen Battle. From the time they were in high school she was friends and sang with Jeff Tweedy lead singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. She was a gifted artist and poet and had a love for cats. Juanita was happiest when she was doing for others and if you were a fortunate one to call her a friend you knew it was for a lifetime.
She is survived by her parents: Joe and Jennifer Morales of Bronson and Victoria Peterson of Burbank, Illinois; her siblings: Betty-Ann Morales and Joseph Walton Morales of Bronson, Andrea (Alex) Patton of Sturgis, Wendy Denson and Gina Denson both of Granite City, Illinois and Joseph Trinidad Morales of Joplin, Missouri, Johnthan Brooks, Michael Brooks and Gabriel Brooks all of Greenville, North Carolina and several aunts, uncles, cousins and nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her step-mother: Patricia Hughes, brother: James Denson, uncle Raul Morales and grandparents.
In accordance with her wishes cremation has taken place. A gathering of family and friends to honor and celebrate the life of Georgia Juanita “JP” Morales will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Thursday at the Hackman Chapel of Hackman Family Funeral Homes, 114 S. Nottawa St. in Sturgis.
The family suggests in honoring Juanita’s love of reading memorial donations be directed to the Sturgis District Library, 255 North St., Sturgis, MI 49091.
We encourage relatives and friends to share memories and condolences at www.hackmanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.
This was news to me almost two years later. I met her in Champaign in 2000, where she was a friend to the folk and Irish traditional music community, and we kept in touch after she moved back to Michigan. She always spoke what was in her heart. By the way, though she may have gone to the University of Chicago at some point, the Urbana-Champaign campus belongs to the University of Illinois, and it also has a Chicago campus.