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Jovita Casillas Campos, 98, of Tucson, Arizona, a former Claypool-Miami resident, passed away in the arms of her daughter, Jennie Campos, at Oro Valley Hospital in Tucson on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. Jovita was born at home in Claypool’s Warrior Canyon on June 15, 1925, and was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters and five half-brothers and sisters. Her mother, Teodora Gonzales Casillas, lived to a glorious 102; her father, Ramon Alonzo Casillas, passed at the young age of 56.
Survivors include her daughter, Jennie, with whom she lived in Tucson the final 33 years of her life, and numerous nieces, nephews, goddaughters/sons, in-laws and friends.
Jovita enjoyed a full life as a member of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Parish, where she was as active a volunteer as she had been at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Miami, Arizona. She volunteered for 20 years at St. Mary’s Hospital in Tucson, where she obtained her nursing degree in 1959.
Jovita’s husband, Joe Catano Campos, was one of the first six casualties of the Korean War, on the third day. “Joe” was Arizona’s first causality of that war. Jovita was both father and mother to her daughter.
Jovita worked as a registered nurse in surgery at Gila General Hospital for 30 years, then retired to move to Tucson to be her daughter’s “best mom and best friend.”
A Remembrance Celebration is planned for Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, at Most Holy Trinity Parish, 1300 N. Greasewood, Tucson, Arizona. Rosary at 10 a.m., Mass at 10:30 a.m., followed by a luncheon reception in the same building. Jovita loved colorful bouquets of flowers for those wishing to honor her.
The community of Globe-Miami-Claypool will miss the light that Jovita exuded and the model of faithfulness, kindness and beauty she was for so many.
May she Rest in Peace.
