Maxine Kaine

KEWANEE - Maxine Kaine, 95, of Kewanee, passed away peacefully at 6:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at Hammond-Henry Hospital Long Term Care Center in Geneseo.

Private family services and interment will be held at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kewanee with Deacon Martin VanMeltebeck officiating.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Saint John Paul II Parish, OSF Saint Luke Medical Center, the Kewanee Public Library or Compassus Hospice.  Rux Funeral Home in Kewanee is in charge of arrangements.

Maxine was born September 1, 1926 in Neponset, the daughter of Robert and Hazel (Lyle) Gunning.  She married Jean P. Kaine on December 26, 1946 in Kewanee and he preceded her in death on November 27, 2005. Survivors include three daughters, Jeannine (Gary) Wright of Kewanee, Maureen (Gary) Kaine-Krolak of Playa del Rey, CA and Kathleen (Jim) Kaine-Fangman of Batesville, IN, a son, Tim (Rita) Kaine of New Richmond, WI, six granddaughters, Shelly (Robert) Phillips, Mindy (Shane) Salisbury, Katie and Madeline Kaine and Alexa and Mikaela Fangman, six great grandchildren, Brieanna Detrick, Corina (Sean) Barry, Cody and Zeb Phillips, and Parker and Kaden Salisbury, a great-great grandchild due March of 2022 and many nieces and nephews. She was also preceded in death by her parents, a sister and several sisters and brothers-in-law.

Maxine was raised and educated in Neponset and graduated from Neponset High School in 1944. She held bookkeeping and secretarial positions at Neponset Elevator Company, Illinois Veterans Commission in Galesburg, Christie Clinic in Champaign, Kewanee School District #229 and Kaine Accounting. She was a member of Saint John Paul II Parish and its Altar and Rosary Society and had been a Eucharistic minister, Chairman of the Stewardship Drive and choir member. She had been a volunteer teacher’s aide at Visitation School and a volunteer for the Elk’s Crippled Children’s Clinic and the Kewanee Care Auxiliary. She had also been a Girl Scout Leader and a Cub Scout Den Mother.  She was a member and past president of Chapter CS, P.E.O., Ladies Reading Club, Catholic Book Club and the YMCA Swim Team Parents. 

She thoroughly enjoyed her family and following her grandchildren’s activities. She was an avid Chicago Cubs, Bears, Bulls and Illini fan. She also enjoyed reading, music, dancing and doing crossword puzzles and traveling.  She had traveled to all 50 states, The Virgin Islands, France, Canada and Ireland. Her family hosted three foreign exchange students in their home.

The family wishes to express their gratitude to Courtyard Estates, Courtyard Village and Karol O’Neill, FNP, for their very loving and compassionate care throughout recent years, as well as to the teams at Hammond-Henry and Compassus Hospice, who provided excellent care in Maxine’s final days.

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