Maxine Bacon

Maxine Bacon was the kind of woman who was never afraid to get her hands dirty. Whether it was shingling her roof, scrubbing the floors, or playing with her kids and grandkids, Maxine wasn’t happy unless she was a part of something. She was a part of so much in her lifetime, nothing greater than her wonderful family, who carry her love and life with them today.

Maxine’s story began on a warm summer day in 1931, in the beautiful shoreline city of St. Joseph, Michigan. Those were desperate times for so many people, caught in the teeth of the Great Depression. Yet on September 6, 1931, Jay and Leona (Thomas) Eaton found a reason to celebrate, with the birth of a beautiful baby girl, a daughter they named Maxine.

Maxine was the couple’s second of 16 children, a veritable army to help them in the onion and potato fields where they toiled every day. The family lived in the Wayland and Gun Lake area, and somehow always made do with what they had. Maxine was a particularly resourceful child, and made her own toys out of old tires and the bugs she collected (never afraid to get her hands dirty, remember).

Eventually, Maxine grew into a very vibrant, vivacious young woman. One day, while accompanying a young man to a carnival in Reed Lake, she ran into another young man named Jim Bacon. Jim took one look at the ravishing Maxine, and told her matter-of-factly, “I’m going to marry you.” Maxine was even more blunt. “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last guy on Earth!” she replied.

As fate would have it, however, Jim wasn’t the last guy on earth, but he was the only guy for her, and the two fell in love and were married on January 10, 1948, in the town of Otsego. The newlyweds settled in nearby Portage, to a lovely home on Austin Lake, where they soon became parents, too. The couple was blessed with four wonderful children over the years, Sharon, Elaine, Rocky and Patricia, who made Maxine so happy and proud. Sadly, the couple also suffered the death of two children as infants.

Maxine, not surprisingly, was a very hands-on parent, who loved nothing more than playing with her kids. From countless games of hide-n-seek, to made-up games, to their favorite puzzle races, Maxine always knew how to have fun with her kids.

When she wasn’t playing, Maxine was working. She could never sit still, and it showed in the tidiness of her home. Everything was perfect, and the joke was that you could even eat off her spotless garage floor! She also tended to a large and lovely garden, which was her time for peace and quiet.

Maxine also worked as an assembler for Allen Electric for more than 14 years, and worked for awhile at Lee Paper Company, too. She was a tireless worker, and a jack-of-all-trades, with no end to what she could do. In 1969, the family packed up and moved from Portage to Vicksburg, to a home they had built. She and Jim built three different homes over the years, and did most of the work themselves. Maxine would climb right up there on the roof and shingle it herself, then climb back down and finish off the electrical wiring Jim had started! That was Maxine, though; never afraid to get involved, never afraid to get her hands dirty.

Yet Maxine also knew better than most that cleanliness is next to godliness, as the faithful Christian woman she was. She was a woman with a powerful faith, a true “prayer warrior,” and an active and integral member of the Schoolcraft Assembly of God Church. She especially enjoyed serving as a Sunday School teacher there for many years, in addition to many other church activities. Maxine loved children more than anything, and loved sharing her faith in the Lord with them.

When Maxine and Jim finally retired, Maxine began to finally enjoy some free time. She enjoyed her crocheting, and gardening, and watching the deer and the birds play in her yard. Most of all, she loved spending more time with her family, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whom she absolutely adored.

They adored her, too. Maxine was the grandkids’ favorite playmate, and she loved to teach them to cook, crochet, and change tires, among other the skills she had in her repertoire. She also enjoyed playing hide-n-seek with them, a beloved holiday tradition they kept until her health required her to stop. The holidays were especially wonderful times for her, and the kids would always fight over Grandma’s world-famous homemade macaroni & cheese!

Maxine was truly the matriarch of the family, the anchor at sea as well as the wind in their sails. She was the one they looked to in good times and bad. The family endured its share of difficult times through the years, as their daughter Sharon sadly died in 1983, as well as two grandsons Maxine had helped raise. Yet Maxine drew her strength from the Lord, and shouldered the burden for her family.

Even later in life, as her own health began failing, she cared only for her family. She took great comfort in her faith, and wanted them to know during her illness that she was comfortable going to Heaven. She wasn’t dying, she said, she was just “changing her address.”

Maxine changed her address on Monday, November 5, 2007, at the age of 76.

Maxine was a wonderful woman, who lived a wonderful life, a life full of hard work, deep faith and a loving family. She was known for her hands, and all that they did, but she was loved for her heart, which held so much more. She will be so greatly missed.

Visit with Maxine’s family on Thursday from 1:00 to 3:00 and 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Life Story Funeral Homes, RDMG, Vicksburg; 409 S. Main where a funeral service will be held on Friday at 3:00 p.m. Maxine was preceded in death by her daughter Sharon Gregg in 1983, 2 grandsons, Scott and Keith, and her siblings Jay Eaton, Chuck Eaton, Patricia (Eaton) Santee, Lavern Eaton, Mildred Nash, and Gloria Bolhise. Members of Maxine’s family includes her husband of 60 years Jim, her children Elaine (John) Leitch, Rocky Bacon, Patricia (Walter) Dorey, 11 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, her siblings Harold (Phyllis) Eaton, Joel (Charlene) Eaton, Richard (Margio) Kellogg, Angel (Barry) Bly, Valdrice (Bob) Carton, Douglas (Bonnie) Kellogg, Kathleen Simpson, Kathryn (Ray) Betz, Betty Kellogg, and numerous other relatives . Please visit Maxine’s memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you can read her Life Story, share a memory or photo, sign her memory book online or make a memorial donation to Schoolcraft Assembly of God.