Juanita May Rader

Juanita May Rader, 88 of Kansas City, KS passed away March 23, 2014. Funeral services will be 11 AM Thursday at Maple Hill Funeral Home, where the visitation will begin at 10 AM. Burial at Maple Hill Cemetery. May was born in the Argentine District of Kansas City, KS June 19, 1925. Her parents were Albert and Mabel Green Petzold. Both families came to Argentine in 1900. Her parents graduated from Franklin School together in 1915. May was raised in Argentine, attended Emerson Grade School and graduated from Argentine High School in 1943. Since her graduation, May has kept in contact with many classmates. She met her future husband, Charles Rader, at an Argentine football game. The couple corresponded while Charles was serving during World war II in Europe and they were married July 23, 1945, when Charles was home on leave. They made their lifelong home in Argentine where they raised their 2 daughters. May was active in PTA at Emerson serving as a room mother. She was also Blue Bird leader and Campfire Girls leader. May became a Christian when her weekday church school teacher invited her to church. She was baptized at the church and was faithful worker there for many years. She served in various children's ministries teaching Sunday school, weekday church school and vacation Bible school. Later, she assisted her daughter Kathy with her Argentine clothing ministry and became a member of the Sunset Hills Christian Church. In later years, she also became interested in her family genealogy. She discovered and met family members from Canada to South America, from New Hampshire to California. While researching her genealogy, she learned that 3 families from her mother's side were among the founding families of America. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Rader, her parents Albert and Mable Green Petzold, brothers Jack, Lewis and Albert Petzold and sister Carolyn Smith. She is survived by daughters, Alice (James) Jenkins and Kathy (Roger) Ensley, 4 grand children, Elizabeth, Susan, Christopher and Jonathan and 6 great-grandchildren. May said of her life that her greatest joy was that her daughters and their families served the Lord by helping others. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be sent to the AWANA Club of Maple Hill Baptist Church, 2611 So 31 St Kansas City, KS 66106 or Sunset Hills Christian Church 6347 Leavenworth Rd, Kansas City, KS 66104.

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Juanita May Rader

June 19, 1925 - March 23, 2014