Jeanine Caraway

Jeanine Caraway peacefully departed this life after a struggle with early onset dementia on March 5th, 2026 in Tyler, Texas. She was 75 years of age. She was affectionately and painstakingly cared for by Dr. Dale Bradley, Melissa Morton, her hospice nurse, and by all the wonderful staff at the Azalea Trails Senior Living and Memory Care facility.

Jeanine was born on May 7th, 1950 in Ranger, Texas to R. J. "Buck" Caraway and Lila Woolf Caraway of Strawn, Texas. The family affectionately also called her "Neanie." She was a precocious child and developed her lifelong interest in fashion and pattern making at a very early age. She could often be found in "her" chair watching TV and cutting out paper dolls for which she would design elaborate outfits. All of her dolls were very cosmopolitan and trendy.

She graduated Valedictorian of the 1968 Strawn High School class. She and her high school friends could often be found playing pool at her home, listening to music, and drinking Dr. Pepper. She was delighted to have been voted homecoming queen and was particularly fond of her home economics classes where she began developing her clothing construction skills.

Jeanine graduated from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas with a BA in English. While at Tarleton, she was a member of the Players, a school sponsored thespian group that produced plays throughout the school year. She made many lasting friendships in this group. It also was the beginning of another of her lifelong interests and talents: Costuming.

Her next education adventure took her to Kansas State University (KSU) in Manhattan, Kansas where she acquired her Masters in Clothing and Design. She chose KSU to study with Dr. Helen Brockman, one of her mentors, who was very well known in the clothing industry for her work in textiles and pattern making in New York and abroad. During this time, Jeanine was also invited to spend a semester attending the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City - recognized globally as the world's best fashion school.

Armed with her master's degree, Jeanine became an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University (SIU) in Carbondale, Illinois teaching pattern making and fashion merchandising in the Art Department. During her time at SIU she established and sponsored an annual expedition to New York City for the Art Department students to visit the world renown Garment District (Rag Trade) and the World Trade Center. And, she is solely (and infamously) responsible for bringing Dr. Pepper to Carbondale. Neanie's goal was 2-fold: 1) Give her students a real-time lab assignment in marketing to show how quickly consumers can affect a market place; and, 2) Address her desperate need for a weekly Dr. Pepper fix (obviously, this was the most important goal). She told her students to drive into any fast-food establishment, even if they didn't intend to buy anything, and ask for a Dr. Pepper. When they were told Dr. Pepper wasn't available, they were to tell the establishment, "Thank you, but that's all I needed" and drive off. They were told to do the same when they went to the grocery stores. It took approximately 3 weeks to get Dr. Pepper stocked all over Carbondale.

When Jeanine became home sick and tired of snowy winters, she landed an associate professor position at her alma mater, Tarleton State University (TSU), teaching pattern making, fashion merchandising, and costuming. During her time at TSU, she was part of a collaboration between the Granbury Opera House, an Actor's Equity Association (AEA) Theater and TSU for theater students to work alongside theater professionals. Jeanine's role was as costumer and teacher/mentor. She was also instrumental in assisting Dr. Mary Jane Mingus in getting the funding and building the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center. When the center was funded and scheduled for build, Neanie designed the prestigious costume department allowing for historical categorizing and fabric preservation.

In an effort to use all of her talents, skills, and experience, Jeanine chose to pursue employment in the private sector. She moved to Dallas, Texas and worked for several clothing manufacturing companies. Among them was Prophecy Corporation which was owned and operated by Carl R. Abady - a prominent figure in the Dallas apparel scene. Jeanine's responsibility was to manage and oversee screen printing pattern pieces, prior to garment assembly, on a 10 Color/10 Station Daisy Wheel Screen Printing Machine. It was the only machine of its kind west of the Mississippi. Envisioning the alignment and placement of the pattern pieces to be screen printed before garment construction was a very difficult and unusual skill. Jeanine was a master of this process. People from different parts of the country in the rag trade came to see the operation and get advice on how to develop this process in their own manufacturing plants. She would have stayed in the screen-printing industry, but she developed toxic reactions to the print inks and had to change careers.

She then had a wonderful opportunity to go to work for Coldwater Creek catalog company in Sandpoint, Idaho as the Quality Assurance Manager of all clothing manufacturing vendors. Her home base was in Boise but she traveled all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada to inspect the vendor's clothing manufacturing plants to see that the garments were meeting standard sizing requirements, fabric quality thresholds, and fashion design mockups.

Despite the beautiful scenery, after a few years in Idaho she decided she was home sick and tired of snowy winters again and moved back to Dallas, Texas. She worked for a couple of clothing and uniform manufacturing businesses. Haggar Clothing company was her last place of employment prior to her retiring and moving back to her hometown, Strawn, Texas.

Upon her retirement, Jeanine moved back into the family home to take over the surface management of the family ranch, take annual baseball vacations (attend a professional baseball game in a new stadium each year), and care for her mother, Lila Caraway.

While living in Strawn, Jeanine was very active in the community. She served on the board of Community Animal Rescue Effort (C.A.R.E.) - a 501c volunteer/foster animal rescue program that serves Palo Pinto and the surrounding counties to place homeless animals and displaced animals during natural disasters. She also served as the first executive director of the Strawn Chamber of Commerce when the chamber was being established in October of 2012 in anticipation of the arrival of the Palo Pinto Mountains State Park.

In 2021 Jeanine went to East Texas to spend time with her sister Patricia Nowak in Gladewater, Texas to visit and handle various family business responsibilities. While there, she discovered several activities of interest to her and chose to remain in East Texas.

For a girl from a small Texas town with a population of 700, Jeanine did alright tackling the world sharing her unique experiences, skills, talents, and interests.

Jeanine was preceded in death by her father, R. J. "Buck" Caraway and her mother, Lila Woolf Caraway; and several uncles and aunts. Survivors are sister; Patricia C. Nowak of Gladewater, Texas; niece, Emily Nowak of Euless, Texas; 4 beloved cousins and their families; and a host of friends.

Memorials can be made to Strawn - Community Animal Rescue Effort (C.A.R.E.) or the Strawn Volunteer Fire Department. You can mail your check or money order to Clear Fork Bank - Strawn Location P. O. Box 338 Strawn, TX 76475 or call (254) 672-5211. Be sure to include Jeanine's name and the organization you would like to receive the donation.