Up until the end, Maxine maintained her kindness, grace, compassion, gratefulness and her overwhelming love of family and for her life-long love, David Louis Joseph (Dave), affectionately known by his grandchildren as Popi.

She was born on a cold winter day, January 20, 1930 in a small house in Harris, a small town in Northwest Missouri near the Iowa state line. As Maxine used to tell friends, she was born on the other side of the tracks. Actually, her home was the only one on the east side of the nearby railroad tracks. Her father, Samuel Lee Meeker (Sammie), was a railroad lineman and worked from a caboose. He was 24 years old at the time of her birth and her mother, Evah Muerl (McClaskey) Meeker was 25 years old.

Maxine and her loving husband, Dave, were married for 77 years. He preceded her in death by three years. They were married in Huntington, Long Island, New York on April 28, 1945, at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

She met the love of her life in Kansas City at 14-years old. She immediately fell in love. If ever two people were meant for each other, it was Maxine and Dave. They formed an abiding love that lasted a lifetime. They requested their ashes be mixed together so as to be together forever.

Dave joined the Coast Guard at 16-years old and served on a WWll destroyer. During a mission, Dave suffered injuries from a direct hit by a German bomb and was sent to a VA hospital in New York state to recuperate.

Maxine talked her Mother into moving to New York to be near him while he healed. After recovery, Dave was stationed at several different light houses near Huntington, New York on Long Island, one of which was Cold Spring Harbor. It was at this time they married, just the two of them and two friends as witnesses. Initially, the local judge wouldn’t grant them a marriage license because Maxine was only 15, so he made Dave her legal guardian. As such, Dave quickly granted her approval to marry.

Unbeknownst to the Coast Guard, Maxine moved into the lighthouse with Dave and lived there for the first year of their marriage.

Prior to marriage, Maxine had worked in a Chillicothe, Missouri store as a “soda jerk” and found similar work in Huntington. Following the end of the war, Dave and Maxine returned to the Midwest and Maxine took up work in the Sears warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri. She additionally worked at a local bank, but quickly retired after she and Dave received a call from the nuns at St. Anthony’s Home for Infants in Kansas City, Missouri. They had sought to adopt a child and in September of 1955 their prayers were answered. They were blessed with a three-month old, skinny baby boy they named “David Paul Joseph.” She and Dave sacrificed and saved each year for the next twenty years and annually at Christmas, Maxine wrote a donation check of $100 to the infant home.

After 33 years of city life in Kansas City, Kansas, Maxine and Dave decided to go into the egg business. They moved to Siloam Springs, Arkansas in 1978 where they built and operated a semi-automated chicken farm. They operated it from 1978 until 1998. After selling, they moved to town, remaining in Siloam Springs for 16 years. In 2014, they moved to Sayre, Oklahoma. In 2020, they moved with Paul and his wife, Shirley to Grand Lake, Oklahoma. There they lived out their dream: a home on the lake with a dock and a fishing pontoon boat. Maxine loved her home on the lake and the view. She was always an avid gardener and surrounded herself and her family with lots of flowers.

Dave was an avid fisherman and Maxine enjoyed fishing with him each weekend at an area lake. The two would save up enough money for a week’s vacation in northern Minnesota or southern Canada and each year fish for walleye and northern pike.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Maxine and Dave owned a Cessna 172 with another family. Dave, the pilot and Maxine the co-pilot.

Maxine’s second love-of-her-life was her son, Paul. Yearning for children for years, she immediately fell in love with Paul the moment he was placed in her arms.

Their relationship paled in comparison to any mother/son relationships, as she brooded over his every need until the day she died. She filled him with unconditional love and Paul could do no wrong, fiercely defending him against all challengers.

Maxine was passionately in love with her three grandchildren. They were her life and they called her, “Grans” as did many others. She was involved in each of their individual lives and would attend all of their school events and traveled to many of their band competitions all over Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. She tutored them, nurtured them, advised them and scolded them where necessary.

Maxine was a Christian and knew her way to heaven. She served in her church in a variety of positions. She was known as a great cook, a fair and open-minded thinker who was full of downto- earth advice. She was a great resource to many including her fellow Sunday School ladies. They can each recite a warm “Maxine story” as many friends and relatives can do the same. She would happily listen to a challenging situation and offer advice when asked. Sometimes she wouldn’t wait to be asked, but her advice was always well thought-out and fair - though not always what was desired. She was frugal all her life but easily gave money away to family and friends in need. Her heart was full of love and her actions full of compassion.

Besides Dave, Maxine was preceded in death by her Father and Mother and a half-brother, Weldon Dale Desper of Kansas City, Missouri.

She leaves behind her loving son, Paul, and his wife, Shirley, of the home. She also leaves three grandchildren who adore her: Andrew Louis Joseph of Grove, Oklahoma, Alexander Paul Joseph of Overland Park, Kansas and Jacqueline Kathleen Barbee of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as well as the children’s mother, Susan Applebury of Overland Park, Kansas.

She also leaves behind a brother- in-law, many sisters-in-law and multiple nieces and nephews.

Funeral arrangements are being made by Wasson Funeral Home in Siloam Springs, Ar. The funeral is set for 1:00pm, Friday, January 9, 2026 at First Christian Church located at 1405 W Jefferson St, Siloam Springs, AR 72761. A meal will follow in the fellowship hall.

Donations to First Christian Church are requested in lieu of flowers and gifts.