Jeanne Audrey Baxter Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Jeanne Baxter, late of Niagara Falls, died May 11, 2022 after a long illness. Jeanne was the daughter of the late Amy and Richard Baxter. She was adopted by her parents and entered the U.S. in her first year from her birthplace in Ontario, Canada and thereafter, was a lifelong resident of Niagara county. Jeanne was a happy child, outdoors on her aunt’s farm, in school, in the Children’s Community Chorus of the Tonawandas, and in the 1956 “The King and I” production at the Niagara Melody Fair theatre-in-the-round. She traveled to the British Isles as a youngster with her family and visited with her mother’s English relatives. She spent summers on her father’s family’s farm downstate in Cattaraugus County. As a young teen she participated in the 1960 European concert tour of the Children’s Community Chorus. She was prized for her beautiful soprano voice and enjoyed endless hours playing her family’s grand piano. She graduated from North Tonawanda High School with the class of 1966. In adulthood she worked nights for a decade-long stretch at the Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital where she handled some of the hardest jobs and befriended some of her favorite patients, bringing at least one of them to her parents’ home for occasional weekend stays. She did a lot of good for a lot of people. She loved to garden, help cleaning homes, and particularly loved organizing a garage sale or a house move for friends and neighbors and she was exceptionally good at it. She earned her living by helping others. She made a comfortable home sifting through the best garage and estate sales in Western New York, always bringing a friend along with for the hunt. For Christmas and Thanksgiving she roasted beautiful turkeys and hams and pounced upon new taste treats and recipes which she passed along to family and friends. She made dozens of Christmas cookies often from long-standing family recipes. For all these reasons and uncountable more, she leaves a big hole. Jeanne would have been 74 on May 28th of this year. She is survived by her only sibling, Dr. Richard Baxter, and her sister-in-law Dr. Sandra Skettino, of Atherton, California; her maternal cousin Janet Root and her husband Thomas Mialkowski of Newfane, NY; and multiple paternal Baxter cousins scattered across the U.S. Jeanne also had an extraordinarily loyal friend in Marilyn Bush of Williamsville who was a great supporter and was with her and Rick on Jeanne’s last day. Friends and family are invited to visitation at the Wattengel Funeral Home on July 12th 2022 from 11 AM to 1 PM, at 533 Meadow Drive in North Tonawanda. Donations may be made in Jeanne’s name to the North Tonawanda Botanical Garden which she helped plant.

Jeanne Audrey Baxter

May 28, 1948 - May 11, 2022