Submited by: Dan Rich
May 13, 1942 - Feb. 2, 1999
South Bend Tribune 2/4/1999
Juanita C. Ernst, 56, of Quiet Ridge Court, South Bend, Ind., passed away at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 2, after a brave battle with colon cancer. Juanita was born on May 13, 1942, in Lebanon, Ohio, to the late Ralph and Charlotte (Masurowski) Helm.
On June 22, 1968, in St. Joseph Church, Mishawaka, Ind., Juanita married Robert J. Ernst, who survives. She is also survived by two daughters, Susanna (Jeff) Avila of Denver, Colo., and Rosemary (Jeff) Weghorst of Cincinnati, Ohio; five sisters, Gloria (Daniel) DiCocco of Philadelphia, Pa., Josephine Bloomfield of Athens, Ohio, Christine (Steve) Maynard of Chilocothe, Ohio, Barbara Helm of Lexington, Ky., and Catherine Smith of Corbin, Ky.; and by a brother, Ralph Helm, II, of Potsdam, Ohio.
Juanita was an active member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Mishawaka. She graduated from Wilmington (Ohio) College, from which she had received an award for her work in the field of education. She received her Master's degree from I.U.S.B. She taught at Mishawaka High School, establishing new courses in advanced biology, human anatomy and physiology, and health technology. While at Mishawaka High School, Juanita was the coach for the school's Academic Fine Arts Super Bowl Team, the Teacher of the Year Award winner, School City of Mishawaka's Teacher of the Year, a semi-finalist for the State Teacher of the Year Award, and was a Golden Apple nominee. As part of her Teacher of the Year Award in 1993 she was awarded an opportunity to go on an excursion with the Vermillion Environmental Project in conjunction with the National Geographic Society to study wolf tracking in northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters. Juanita was also a member of the National Education Association; Indiana State Teachers Association; Mishawaka Education Association; and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society of Key Women Educators, for which she had served as a past vice-president.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 6, in St. Joseph Church, with Fr. Robert A. Yast officiating. Interment will follow in Southlawn Cemetery, South Bend. Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5, in the Thallemer-Goethals Funeral Home, Mishawaka, with a Rosary scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Juanita Ernst Scholarship Fund at Mishawaka High School, Attn: Joseph Trimboli, Principal.