ELKIN - Juanita Steele Dockery left this world peacefully at The Joan & Howard Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson, NC, on February 28, 2011, surrounded by her family. Mrs. Dockery was born on December 6, 1930, to the late Thurmond and Martha Nance Steele, and was raised in the Poplar Springs community, attending Elkin City Schools. In 1947, she married Gilmer Monroe Dockery. Mrs. Dockery devoted herself to her life alongside Gilmer in Union Cross as a homemaker, working with him & his family on the Dockery farm, raising their children and later, their grandchildren. Juanita adored life in the country and dedicated herself to making their home a happy one, taking pleasure in planting a bountiful vegetable garden, canning, cooking, sewing, knitting, and crocheting. Several of her crochet pieces hang in area churches and adorn the homes of her friends and family. Mrs. Dockery was a seeker of truth, a defender of the down-trodden, a lover of children, and a friend to animals. Juanita tried never to let a friend or neighbor leave her home with an empty hand, head, heart or stomach, and believed that life's greatest gifts were made sweeter only by sharing with others. She valued hard work, quiet strength and above all else, dedication to God and to her family. She was a loving daughter, wife, mother, 'Mama Juanita,' 'Granna Nita,' sister, aunt and friend. In addition to her parents and her beloved husband, Gilmer, Mrs. Dockery was preceded in death by her grandson, Jonathan Hastings Dockery; a brother, Windell "Fireball" Steele, a sister, Lorene Steele Sheppard; a son-in-law, Stephen G. Helton; and her brother-in-law, Tommy Dean Dockery. Mrs. Dockery leaves to cherish her memory her children and grandchildren, Elizabeth Jane ('Janie') Dockery Helton of Elkin; Charles Alvin (Vickie) Dockery; Amy Rebecca Dockery, of the home; Melissa Diane Taylor of Dobson, Melanie Taylor Sloop of Elkin; and William Charles Dockery of Dobson; her great-grandchildren, Dockery Harrison Stephen Sloop and Bronwyn Elizabeth Kyleigh Sloop of Elkin; her sister, Josephine S. Dunn of Greenville, SC; two brothers, Edward Steele of Winston-Salem, NC and Posey (Marie) Steele of Elkin; and her brothers- and sisters-in law, Phillip (Lorene "Jo") Dockery of Dobson; Betty Stewart Dockery of Elkin; Elizabeth ("Libby") Dockery Helton of Mt. Airy; Clyde and Mary Victoria ("Vic") Hayes of Lowgap; Hallie Dockery O'Shea of Mt. Airy; Fairy Eva and Cecil Hayes of State Road, NC, and Barbara Blevins Steele of Dobson; and a host of nieces and nephews, each of whom she cherished for their own individual talents and unique gifts. Funeral services will be held at Dobson United Methodist Church in Dobson, NC on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at 11:00 a.m., with burial to follow in the Dockery Family Cemetery in the Union Cross Community. The family will receive friends at Moody-Davis Funeral Home in Dobson on Tuesday, March 1, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses and staff of The Comprehensive Cancer Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; the doctors, nurses, and staff of Yadkin Valley Adult Medicine; Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care; and The Joan & Howard Woltz Hospice Home for all the love and care shown to Mrs. Dockery and her family during her extended illness. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Mountain Valley Hospice and Palliative Care or to The Joan & Howard Woltz Hospice Home, 945 Zephyr Road, Dobson, NC 27017. Moody Funeral Services of Dobson is serving the Dockery family.

Published in Winston-Salem Journal on March 1, 2011