Jeanette Vannatta

Oct.  29, 1933 ~ Feb. 23, 2024

Jeanette Patricia Vannatta passed away at the age of 90 on Friday, February 23rd, at her home surrounded by her loved ones. Funeral services will be held on 11 A.M. Wednesday, March 6, at the First Baptist Church of Valley Mills with Rev.Craig Godby officiating under the direction of Foss Funeral Home and Cremation Center. Interment will be in the Valley Mills Cemetery with military honors.

Visitation will be 5 - 7 P.M. Tuesday March 5th at Foss Funeral Home.

Jeanette Vannatta was born October 29, 1933, in Tucson, Arizona to Ivan Sylvester Hopper and Emma Henrietta Halverson. She had one brother and two sisters.  Jeanette graduated high school and enlisted in the Women's Army Corp in November 1951 where she became a Dental Technician. She met Thomas Vannatta while playing on the Women's Army Corps softball team in Ft. Hood, Texas, he was the coach of the team at the time. They later married in Germany when both were serving overseas. Jeanette received an honorable discharge from the Army in Nov. 1954 when she and Tom began raising a family. They were an active military family, moving their growing family from France, to California, multiple cities in Texas, Louisiana, back to France, then Germany and lastly back to California, when Tom retired from the Army and they moved the family back to Central Texas, settling in Valley Mills.

Jeanette worked at the Valley Mills Care Center for many years, she was greatly loved by her patients and co-workers. Her love for sports never ended, whether gathering up the family to go to Tom's softball games, playing on the women's softball team in Valley Mills or traveling far and wide to attend sporting events for her children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren! She also loved watching the Baylor Women's Basketball and Softball games!   One of her biggest joys in life was to personally shop for special, meaningful Christmas gifts for each of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.  She put great effort into what she thought each one would like and would start each year in June or July to prepare, it was a true labor of love! She did this until this past Christmas when, at the age of ninety, her body would not permit her to continue.

Something else Jeanette dearly loved was celebrating Easter with her family, she especially loved coloring eggs and having a big Easter Egg hunt for all the children! It was always a fun time to gather together as a family! Many times, that meant making lots of tacos to enjoy! She loved flowers, plants and birds, her yard was full of them!   Her greatest desire for her family was that each one would know how much she loved them and that we would love one another. She demonstrated her love daily, always putting others before herself. Truly, she was our great advocate, she never gave up despite the many challenges and losses she encountered and overcame.

She is survived by daughter, Gail Patricia Harris and husband Kenneth, grandchildren Eli Harris, Nikki Groth and her husband Josh; Kristy Higginbotham and her husband Joe; great grandchildren Kaitlyn and Jacob Groth, Colton and Trenton Higginbotham. Two sons, Tim Edward Vannatta and wife Lindy, grandsons Grant and Garrett Vannatta; Danny Patrick Vannatta and wife Penny, grandchildren Jordan Williams and her husband Lance, Dalton Vannatta and his wife Alex, great grandchildren Harper and Taryn Williams, Jenntrie and Rhett Vannatta, daughter Cindy Vannatta, grandchildren Tommy Vannatta and wife Mandy, Travis Vannatta and wife Audrae, Trey Vannatta and wife Delani, great grandchildren Easton Vannatta, Anna and Ava Vannatta, Cason and Bowen Vannatta and Ayden Rogers. Grandchildren Patricia Lake and husband Chris, Sheri Collier and husband Robert, Kelly Coker, Michael Ficklin; great grandchildren Destiny Ficklin, Leia Coker, Ella Rae Fagan, Alex and Andrew Hedrick, Olivia Lake, Elena Collier many nieces, nephews, special loved one Charisse Upshaw and many friends.

Jeanette is preceded in death by her husband Thomas Edward Vannatta, daughter Pamela Jill Jackson, son Thomas Jake Vannatta, her parents Ivan and Emma Hopper, sisters Donna Lustig and Mary Eischens, brother Bill Hopper, foster family members Jeri Marsh, Margaret and Jake Watson and Ruth Haws.

Pallbearers are:  Dalton Vannatta, Eli Harris, Grant Vannatta, Tommy Vannatta, Travis Vannatta, Trey Vannatta and Andrew Hedrick

Jeanette Vanatta Memorial Video

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