Jeanette Caretto Bowling

Our beloved mom died peacefully at home in the early hours of November 17, 2020. In our grief, we couldn’t write her story until now…

Jeanette was born in Globe, Arizona, on April 14, 1930, to loving parents, Mary (Bertino) and John A.B. Caretto, proprietors of the Arizona Baking Company. As an infant, she was not thriving. One day, her father happened to see local haberdasher Max Lantin on the street in downtown Globe. Max asked how the baby was doing, and when John explained that they might lose her, Max told him to take her to a pediatrician in Phoenix, who prescribed the goat’s milk formula that saved her life.

She had a happy childhood with her parents, her grandmother Nonna, her aunt Minnie, her cousins Corinne and Jim Vidano, and Pal the piano-playing dog. She slept in a little bed next to her parents’ big bed and held hands with her daddy until she fell asleep. She and Jim went to grade school together and got into plenty of mischief at home. Corinne said that if one didn’t think of something to get into, the other did!

Jeanette attended Globe High School (Class of ’48), and would skip down the steep front steps to meet her dad when he came to pick her up after school. (Years later, she was elected to the GHS Hall of Fame, which surprised and pleased her.) She was a good student and also worked the counter in her parents’ bakery. She would get pastries from the bakery, and then go to the movies with her best friend Jean Alden, whose father owned the Globe Theater. She also enjoyed shopping trips to Phoenix with her mom.

Her senior year in high school was life-changing, although she didn’t realize it at the time. A boy, Bill Bowling, was expelled from Miami High and had to go to rival Globe High. (He always said it was the best thing that ever happened to him because he met Jeanette.) His best friend was sent out of state. Jeanette realized how difficult a time it was for Bill. He was kind, intelligent, and funny, so she befriended him.

After graduation, she left Globe for Stanford University’s nursing program. The first year was challenging, but she was determined to succeed. Her college years were happy, whether on campus in Palo Alto, or on nursing rotations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Bakersfield. Her stories of student nurse misadventures are hilarious but more appropriately shared among family and friends — or perhaps healthcare professionals. She graduated as a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science degree and remained lifelong friends with a tight group of nursing school classmates.

In 1954, Jeanette and her parents drove to New York City, and then went to Europe by passenger ship. They brought their Ford with them, and she was the plucky driver. They saw all of the usual tourist sights in England, France, and Germany, and traveled throughout Italy, visiting their relatives in Piemonte. She recalled the shock of still seeing so much damage from World War II.

One summer, when she and Angie, her best friend from Stanford, were working in Globe’s Old Dominion Mine hospital, Jeanette was walking downtown, and someone whistled at her from a car. She held her head high until she heard a familiar voice call to her. It was Bill Bowling. They dated that summer and corresponded after she returned to California and he to Tucson. Eventually, they were engaged and married on February 4, 1956, in Globe’s Holy Angels Catholic Church.

Due to Bill’s work, he and Jeanette had their children Back East: Alane in Illinois in 1957, Nina in New York in 1959, and John in Ohio in 1962. After a brief stint in Northern California, they returned home to Arizona in 1965, and settled in the Arcadia neighborhood, where they lived for more than 50 years.

When John was diagnosed with aphasia and learning disabilities at age six, Jeanette discovered there was no appropriate school for him in Phoenix, so she started one with Evelyn Filler Wiseman. They ran the non-profit New Way School for almost 30 years on a stretched budget but never turned any child away. Jeanette and Evie, dedicated teachers and staff, and generous supporters helped many children and their families. New Way Academy now continues this legacy.

After retiring and taking some time to relax, Jeanette volunteered as a peer counselor for Scottsdale’s Granite Reef Senior Center. Years before, she had become certified as a Reality Therapist, which helped her work with parents at New Way and with her senior clients.

Jeanette and Bill loved spending time with their kids, sons-in-law, especially Michael Lechnir, his father Richard, and grandkids Meghan Manning and Josh Lechnir, as well as cousins and friends. They enjoyed traveling throughout the West and to Europe, especially England and Italy. On one trip to England, Jeanette reported having eerie déja vu feelings so many times in the city of Bath that it was annoying — a mystery that will go unsolved. Their most exotic travels took them to Australia and New Zealand, Tahiti, and China, which they found fascinating but were glad to return home.

Jeanette was never quite the same after Bill was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2015. While the cancer was in remission, they celebrated their 60th anniversary in style. After he died, she said she missed their wide-ranging conversations and how he spoiled her and made her laugh every day.

On her 90th birthday, she was happy to see Meghan marry Chris Cuellar in the front sideyard, carpeted with purple verbena, with Camelback Mountain glowing in the background.

She was a loving, no-nonsense mom. We miss her and our dad every day.